70 



THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 



there, because the manufacturer had something to sell. It looked nic<\ 

 It was a nice equipment to talk about, and the party to whom it was 

 offered thought it was good to put it in. Primitive ways were the best. 

 A few years ago — I don't know just how long — some shipments were 

 made of fruit that was packed by growers in the fields up north, from 

 near Auburn, I believe. It was packed in a crude way. It was shipped 

 East in poorly loaded cars; and yet, all that fruit arrived without 

 decay. It was all sound. It was a surprise to the Eastern agent of 

 the California Fruit Growers' Exchange at that time, and he com- 

 mented upon it. Now, the reason was that it went back to the primi- 

 tive way. The men who did this were the owners of the fruit ; the>- 

 clipped it carefully; they handled it carefully; it was not bruised or 

 brushed or hurt, and it went to the market sound. 



There are some things that you can not dispense with in a packini!- 

 » house. A box-making machine should be in every well-equipped packinii 

 house. We, Avho live near the coast, need brushes. Some think you 

 do not need them. That is a matter for each section to decide for 

 itself, but when you do brush, I don't think the fruit should be brushed 

 with hard bristle brushes, or, rather, with stubble or wood brushes, 

 and it should not be brushed under heavy pressure. I think dusting 

 the fruit, such as can be done and is noAv done with some of the better 

 equipped and later brushes, will not hurt it. And I do not think that 

 weight should be heavy. Wherever fruit is more than dusty, wherever 

 the gathering on it be of dirt or smut and is heavy, I believe it will 

 be well to wash it if it can be safely handled — better than by brushing 

 it hard dry. 



Now, in regard to the hopper, you have got to have that for your 

 sizer. The hopper that Mr. Eumsey mentioned I think is the best 

 that has been adopted. Have a soft rubber tube if you can, but, in 

 the absence of that, your hopper should be of smooth garden hose, so 

 you will have some give-way in dropping through. Care should be 

 used in handling. Do not chuck the fruit in on the edges of the boxes. 

 I think it would be better to have a very light springy substance to drop 

 your fruit on. When it gets through the hopper, and runs over the 

 brushes, there is only one thing to do, and that is to carry it on belts. 

 Don't roll your fruit. Any kind of chute we have is likely to injure 

 it. Fruit can be carried on belts a long way ^dthout injury. 



The model packing house, in my judgment, should be built with a 

 drop of a foot, two and a half feet, or three feet, just as is most desir- 

 able; and your receiving floor is on a higher basis. You carry your 

 fruit from the brusher on belts, along your sorters, and bring it down 

 to the level, where it goes over to the roller. You can hardly dispense 

 with a roller or with a sizer of some kind. You must have something 

 beyond the hand for sizing the fruit. I believe a sizer is now being 

 made that handles the fruit quite carefully, dropping it upon spongy 

 or loose canvas — not upon a hard surface. And this is an advantage. 

 When that is done, you get it down to the packers, and there, you all 

 know" who have been in a packing house, that care is required. No 

 packer can reach into a box of fruit and take it out indiscriminately 

 with long finger nails without injuring the fruit. I think every one 

 should v/ear gloves in a packing house. 



