10 “BULLETIN 1415, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
PICKING 
Generally the pickers are instructed to gather the fruit carefully 
and to empty picking receptacles gently into the orchard boxes so 
that apples will not be injured. Pickers often fill the orchard boxes 
too full and the top apples in a box are crushed by the weight of 
boxes resting on them when stacked in the orchard. A drop-bottom 
picking bag holding nearly a bushel has been used almost universally 
(fig. 5) Recently the tendency has been to use a padded tin bucket 
with drop-bottom of canvas. Many growers feel that its use results 
in fewer bruised and stem-punctured apples. Pickers are paid either 
by the hour or by the box. | 
Fic. 5.—Apple picking in a western orchard 
HAULING 
Apples are handled loose in standard Hpple boxes from time of 
picking until sorted for packing. Hauling from the orchard to the 
ranch packing house is done on low sleds, or on low-wheeled spring 
wagons drawn by horses or small tractors. To a large extent, motor 
trucks have replaced the team and wagon in hauling from the ranch. 
Many individual growers maintain small trucks, but growers, dealers, 
and growers’ associations often contract their hauling to firms oper- 
ating truck lines. It is not uncommon for a large truck to haul as 
many as 350 packed boxes, although the average truck hauls a smaller 
load. Figure 6 shows a truck loaded with 400 boxes. 
GRADING 
Grading has been the backbone of the boxed apple industry and 
enforcement of the grades has necessarily been one of the greatest 
tasks confronting the industry. Boxed-apple growers were pioneers 
in establishing standard grades through which their product has 
