1921.] 



Grading and Packing Apples. 



429 



on in this instance — a wise ruling. In all cases the apples are 

 to be tightly packed in layers. To those experienced in pack- 

 ing this rule appears unnecessary, for they recognise that 

 apples cannot be packed otherwise than in layers, and that 

 tight packing is essential if the pack is to remain firm during 

 the journey. Large numbers of fruit growers are, however, 

 not familiar with packing, so that the ruling is sensible and 

 necessary. For boxes the Committee and the Federation of 

 British Growers have accepted the diagonal pack which is 

 admittedly the best pack for market fruit, and one that 

 remains firm under rough handling; but it will be a surprise 

 to many to read that every apple must be separately wrapped. 

 It is recognised that wrapped apples are easier to pack than 

 unwrapped ones, that the fruit is prevented from slipping 

 about and so travels and keeps better because of its added 

 protective covering. The public too is familiar with and 

 expects to buy oranges, and even some imported apples, 

 wrapped in tissue paper. Both in the standard of quality 

 fixed, however, and also in this regulation as to wrapping, the 

 Federation has boldly set itself to reach a high ideal by one 

 jump. The Ministry could not withhold its approval, but it 

 may be questioned whether to start w^ith the realisation of the 

 ideal is not something of a counsel of perfection, and whether 

 as a practical policy it would not have been better to have 

 made a beginning with provisions a little less rigorous and 

 then, as growers became familiarised with the scheme, to 

 have tightened it up. The high level to which costs have 

 mounted creates a difficulty for all growlers, and amounts to a 

 veritable scare to many; even the cost of tissue paper wrappers 

 may be the straw that weights the scales of judgment against 

 the adoption of the scheme. The more up-to-date growers 

 will, however, probably consider that the greater efficiency 

 outweighs a slight extra cost. 



It must never be forgotten that the scheme under review 

 is primarily concerned with the home market. Regulations 

 w^hich may be absolutely necessary for an export trade can 

 here be safely and wisely dispensed with. One does not, in 

 saying this, lose sight of the nascent export trade in English 

 apples which before the War was attaining quite respectable 

 dimensions, and which it is of immense importance to encour- 

 age to the utmost. In the question of packages, as a contrast, 

 the Federation scheme wisely deals with the well-known 

 susceptibilities of the grower with almost maternal tenderness, 

 and has lent the a3gis of its protection to prolong the life of 



