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The Grading and Sizing of Apples. [Aug., 



When the fruit cannot be packed direct from the pickers' 

 baskets, because it is being marketed in boxes, or has to go into 

 store, or for any other reason, there are several appliances which 

 may prove useful. Circumstances have forced the Western 

 American growers to be pioneers in this respect, and it may prove 

 of value to consider their practices. The remark is sometimes 

 heard that just when the British grower is endeavouring to im- 

 prove his standard, the American grower is slacking off — as evi- 

 denced by the shipments of the past season. That is, however, 

 an entirely erroneous idea, which has arisen because the Ameri- 

 can used to send us his best grades, but now keeps them at home 

 and sends us the inferior grades. 



Estimates as to the extent to which different methods are in 

 use appear in a recent publication of the U.S. Department of 

 Agriculture.* These deal chiefly with central packing houses, 

 that is packing houses which are operated either by the growers 

 co-operatively or by individuals for profit. In passing, it may 

 be observed that in 1916 it was estimated that a quarter of the 

 crop was dealt with in such houses. In 1919 the proportion had 

 risen to a half, and it is now probably still greater. This remark- 

 able development gives considerable food for thought to the home 

 grower, although it must be borne in mind that the circumstances 

 in this country are not quite the same. 



Methods of Grading and Sizing. — There are in common use 

 three methods by which the fruit is graded and sized : — 



(1) Entirely by hand. 



(2) Mechanical aids to hand grading. 

 (8) Sizing machines. 



(1) The first requires little capital outlay, and is favoured by 

 the small grower, but experienced and careful packers are essen- 

 tial. The equipment consists of a canvas-topped packing table 

 26 in. wide and BO in. high with division boards every 30 in. 

 to separate the different grades. On one side is the sorting table, 

 20 in. by 30 in., and the packer's stand at the other side. 



The fruit is poured carefully on to the sorting table, and the 

 different grades (by quality, all sizes together), are picked out 

 by hand and placed in their proper divisions on the packing 

 table. The packer standing at the other side of the table sizes 

 the fruit as he is packing it. If the crop is fairly clean one sorter 

 can keep up with one packer, but if it is not, more sorters will 

 be required than packers. When this method is adopted for 

 packing into boxes, the packer will require a rest designed to 

 hold three or four boxes, so as to clear up most of the sizes. 



* Farmers' Bulletin — 1204. North-western Apple Packing Houses. 



