PACKING 



31 



suitable packing equipment can be installed, including better 

 packing tables and mechanical sizers, and the packages may 

 be kept under cover at all times. With increasing competition 

 from all sections, greater care in packing becomes absolutely 

 essential. This factor, together with that of greater rapidity 

 in grading, has stimulated the development of the packing 

 house and the use of mechanical devices. 



(3) The community packing house is a further develop- 

 ment. The grower may deliver his fruit and leave the grading 

 and packing to be done there, at a certain charge, while he 

 gives all his attention to harvesting the crop. This is the 

 custom packing house, common in some sections. 



Packing houses, operated on a cooperative basis, are now 

 found in many sections, including Nova Scotia, New York, 

 Pennsylvania, and other Eastern states, as well as the Pacific 

 Northwest. They make possible the packing of a large quan- 

 tity of fruit of a certain standard, which greatly facilitates its 

 marketing. They allow the individual grower to confine his 

 attention to getting the crop off the trees in good season and to 

 the packing house in good condition. They make possible 

 the growing of a larger quantity of fruit by the individual 

 because he does not have to concern himself with the packing. 



These community houses may be federated into a central 

 organization which undertakes to handle the marketing, to 

 purchase supplies, etc. 



How a Cooperative Packing House Operates. Though there are vari- 

 ations in methods, a typical packing house operates as follows : The fruit 

 is delivered tree-run at the packing house by the grower. Containers 

 are stamped with the grower's number, and a receipt is issued to the 

 grower giving the number of the containers and the varieties delivered 

 by him. The fruit is graded and sized into %- or ^/^-inch sizes, and 

 packed, each grower's fruit being run separately. The number of pack- 

 ages of the various grades and sizes and the number of pounds of culls 

 are entered on the association's books, after which the fruit frequently 

 loses its identity from the grower's standpoint. 



In some places, instead of grading all the fruit of an individual 

 grower separately, a few sample bushels are graded by hand from each 



