THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROT^-ERS ' CONVENTION. 



67 



nearly a year to bring to perfection should be so handled as to prevent 

 its decay 'while on the way and after its deliveiy to the buyer. 



While packing house managers have been open to blame (mainly for 

 consenting to handle fruit improperly), it would be very hard to find 

 a manager who would resist an effort made by his growers to insure 

 greater care in handling. In my experience, the grower is to blame — 

 not the manager. Some growers will help the manager by picking and 

 delivering fruit in the most careful manner. Other growers will do 

 neither, and their neglect, when their fruit is pooled, makes the care of 

 other growers of no elfect. I am discussing this matter from the asso- 

 ciation standpoint, having no experience Avith an}^ other. I think in any 

 association packing house, with the light we now have, a body of growers 

 can be grouped who will agree to have their fruit picked by a crew, 

 under the control of the manager, hauled in the most careful manner, 

 and packed under strict rules, asking only that this be done at as little 

 cost as the best work requires and demanding that the fruit so packed 

 shall be sold under specified brands. If there is a group who do not 

 believe in care, and who will not take it, or pay for it, I would let 

 them have the brands they have always had, and adopt new ones for 

 those who have the work done carefully. The past two years have shown 

 that new brands, well handled, have displaced some of the old favorites, 

 and good work is quickly appreciated by^the trade. Such a body of 

 growers will either gladden a manager's heart, or break -his back 

 if he does not respond. This is the first and best item in "packing house 

 equipment." 



The second item is the picking crew, and the main force in that is 

 the foreman. I do not believe the best work can be done by any man- 

 ager, unless he controls the fruit from the tree to the car. In no other 

 way can you fix responsibility. The grower should do nothing but 

 watch and help the foreman, unless he will work in the crew with the 

 other pickers and under the foreman. The grower must expect to pay 

 more for picking when clipper cutting and long stems are not tolerated. 

 Xo picker can pick as many boxes of perfect work — fifty boxes is about 

 the limit, and where fruit is small, it may drop to thirty-five boxes. 

 In my own experience, constant inspection at the packing house is neces- 

 sary to insure perfect work. Several times, when fruit was small, the 

 men would pick faster than before, and we had to warn them we wanted 

 perfect work rather than quantity. In our crew every man keeps tally 

 of his boxes as he fills them, and also numbers them on the end in pencil, 

 so the inspector can examine a certain number of each man's pick daily. 

 I prefer clipper cuts to long stems. Some clipper cuts heal over, but the 

 possibilities of the long stem to cause injury and decay are about five 

 times as great. We cut all stems twice, and we have no leaves or twigs 

 in the boxes. Throwing the picking sack to the left hip has cut out that 

 source of decay. We fight the pickers all the time to keep the work 

 right, and find it is necessary. Full boxes are ordered kept in the shade 

 of the tree, and we have pieces of canvas that cover two and three boxes 

 to keep off sun and dew or rain. 



We haul to packing house in wagons two feet from the ground ; the 

 end gate, six feet long, drops to the ground and serves as a bridge, 

 up which the boxes are carried and gently put in place. The wagon 



