12 BULLETIN 1415, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
bulk of the tonnage is put up in packing houses, either by individual 
growers on the ranch or by growers’ cooperative associations. 
Some growers haul their fruit to commercial packing houses, where 
the apples are packed, stored, and shipped at a certain price per 
packed box. Figures 7 and 8 show two well-packed boxes of apples. 
Fic. 7.—Good pack of boxed apples 
The packing equipment is not moved about in the orchard, but a 
convenient point either in the orchard or along a railroad siding is 
selected for the packing house, as packing and storage rooms are 
usually parts of the same building. Boxed apples are packed from 
hand tables, sizing machines, and grading belts. The bulk of the ton- 
nage passes over hand tables (fig. 9) and sizing machines (fig. 10), 
Fic. 8.—Packed box showing correct bulge 
which are used in both ranch and central packing houses. Grading 
belts are less used than hand tables or sizing machines. The belt 
carries the ungraded apples before the sorters, who separate the apples 
into grades as the fruit passes along. The sorted apples are placed 
in convenient bins. Sorters do not usually size the apples. The 
packers are stationed beside the bins and size the fruit as they pack. 
