1921.] 



Packing Apples in Boxes. 



531 



PACKING APPLES IN BOXES. 



J. TURNBULL, 



Ministnj oj Agriculture and Fialicrles. 



J3ox packing of apples is apt to appear rather complicated to 

 the uninitiated, and the older methods actually were so, because 

 considerable judgment was required to decide which method to 

 use for a given size of fruit. Several methods might be used 

 for the same size, and there was always doubt until the pack was 

 nearly completed whether it could be made the right height or 

 not. Packing has now been reduced to an exact science, and 

 the standard method is very simple once the details have been 

 mastered. There is only one method for each particular size, 

 and when this is followed a good and tight pack is obtained every 

 time. 



When apples were first boxed in this country, about ten years 

 ago, the most up-to-date methods then in use in the Western 

 States were adopted. These methods have long been superseded 

 in their country of origin, but are still largely used over here. 

 The square pack is now little used, but the off-set pack has still 

 some supporters. It may be attractive under some conditions, 

 but it cannot always be used. The diagonal pack, however, can 

 be used for any size or shape of apple, so long as the fruit is 

 graded correctly, and experience has proved it to be much 

 superior to any other pack both in remaining tight after nuich 

 handling and in taking great pressure without bruising the fruit. 

 Further, the use of one pack only has obvious advantages. 



Even when the diagonal pack is used, the result is not always 

 satisfactory. The shape of- our fruit is often blamed, but it is 

 usually the case that the method of grading is not understood. 

 A complete system, described below, has now been adopted, and 

 with it there are no uncertainties. The chief feature of this 

 system is that the apples are chosen at the time of packing. 

 They are not merely previously divided into si/es which arc 

 themselves ])ack(Ml : this re(|uires great ingenuity and is 

 often impossible. The idea of first dividing up into fixed sizes 

 and then trying to find a pack that will suit the sizes is the snag 

 v.hich so many growers are up against. They continue to grade 

 by means of rings or cards or by emi)loying machines having the 

 same principl(\ and then try to pack tho siz(N thus ohtaininl. 

 .\.|)|)les. ho\v(^ver, iwo so ii-n\^ular in shape thnt this method can- 



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