New York 
T HE GROWERS’ SIDE.—I have noted with much 
interest the pictures printed on page •>h. show¬ 
ing apples branded New York Standard A Grade, 
purchased in New Jersey, together with comments 
by C. M. C. on page 188, and the editorial notes on 
the subject. C. M. (Vs statement that “the apple 
grading law has resulted in scaring most farmers 
out of trying,to pack A grade fruit” may be in part 
correct, hut I doubt greatly if 40 per cent of the 
growers who were packing their own apples before 
this law was passed lias discontinued the practice. 
There have always been a number of dealers who 
have packed what apples they have purchased, and 
have done this for various reasons, such as “a more 
uniform pack.” “a dependable pack,” etc. Without 
question many growers have been needlessly afraid 
of the requirements of the law. The Department of 
Agriculture is willing to co-operate with the various 
Farm Bureaus or groups of growers iu the holding 
of community packing demonstrations, where deemed 
Apple Pa 
IMPROVING THE PACK.—Without question 
25,000 barrels of apples packed in a packing house 
will he much more uniform than if packed under the 
supervision of from 10 to 15 individual growers. 
There seems to he a general agreement among the 
handlers of apples in the large markets of the State 
that New York apples in enclosed packages are 
today, as a whole, packed much better than before 
the passage of the apple grading act. Violations of 
the law are in most instances unintentional, and 
often due to carelessness, hut in some instances they 
are intentional. To illustrate: The Department has 
referred 15 cases for violating the New York apple 
grading law against one Western New York dealer. 
In several of these cases the evidence indicates that 
the marks upon the packages had been changed by 
him. That is. unclassified or P. grade had been 
changed over to A grade, and the minimum size 
raised from 214 inches to 2*4 inches, the original 
grower’s name and address being left on the package. 
eking, Law 
defined to mean “free except for tolerance allow¬ 
ance.” If not so defined in the law, this clause may 
always he a stumbling block to the law's most 
effective enforcement. 
NATIONAL LAW NEEDED. — Further, there 
should be a compulsory national apple grading law 
applying at least to all barreled apple States, and 
the various State laws should conform thereto. This 
would make it much easier to catch certain crooks 
who are shipping in interstate trade, and would be 
particularly effective in controlling that class of 
dealers who make a practice of shipping earlots of 
unclassified or tree-run apples to distributors out¬ 
side of New' York State, and mark them “New York 
Standard A Grade” after leaving. 
CARE IN GRADING.—Our Eastern apples must 
be graded more carefully, grown more carefully and 
handled more carefully if we are to hold a part at 
least of the high-class trade, and until we do these 
things we cannot advertise and bring to the attention 
A Plate of Applctt, Northern Spy Variety—About the Top Notch of Quality. Fig. 233 
necessary, and any grower can comply with the 
h lie exercises a reasonable amount of care or 
quires it of his employees. However, the re< 
scarcity of help, together with the law. have 1 
apparently acted as incentives to increase the p 
tjeo oi growers selling their crop tree-run, and 
tinu'N the price paid has been such that there 
been a great temptation to the buyer to brand tl 
A Aade. Some unscrupulous dealers have even p 
tai as to change the grade marking and leave 
original packer’s name thereon. If the apples in 
packages upon which brands are changed are 
"P to grade, and the evidence shows that said dei 
Js res P°nsible for their being misbranded, the Dep 
! Agriculture can hold him responsible for 
Jtiou. it j s quite possible that the origi 
UC vCI m i?glD have a just claim for damages 
'oputation against whoever is gull tv of suel 
practice. 
Of these 15 eases the dealer has paid the tine in 13. 
and two have been discontinued. The original 
packer, in some instances at least, had his attention 
called to the fact that this raising of brands and 
sizes had occurred, and that his name had been left 
upon the packages, but we know of no instance 
where the dealers have been prosecuted by the 
grower for such fraudulent practices. The law might 
specifically provide for practices of this kind and 
enforce severe penalties. 
COMPETING WITH THE WEST.—Further, if we 
are to compete successfully with the excellent packs 
of the box States of the West we should, first of all. 
insert in our law the requirement that "the face or 
shown surface shall truly represent the entire con¬ 
tents of the package.” "U. C. top T\ C.” all sold 
Hale's Georgia peaches, sells Western box apples 
and will greatly help the selling of Eastern apples. 
The term "practically free" in the law might be 
of the consumers our best selling points of superior 
texture, flavor or quality. Uniformity of size and 
grade, together with usually superior color and 
finish, sell Western boxed apples. We in the East 
can attain uniformity of size and grade, can handle 
more carefully, and in some of dessert varieties can 
almost if not quite equal the color and finish of the 
West. When we do this we can get results by 
advertising the superior texture, flavor, cooking and 
keeping qualities of our Eastern apples. It will be 
of little use to advertise until we practice packing 
even better than the New York apple grading law 
now requires. 
CO-OPERATIVE PACKING.—A word of warning 
to co-operative packing associations. Keep up the 
quality of your pack. Don't try to be just within 
the law. but have them better than the law requires. 
Sell your inferior fruit as such, and so labeled, or 
better yet. let the by-product factory take them. The 
