The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1910-02-10

Growers Association. His remarks
were devoted to packing aud market,
ing apples and besides giving the
Hood River methods of grading and
packing, he outlined the methods OF
the Hood River Apple Growers
Union, which has been so successful
In marketing the Hood River crop IN a
manner satisfactory to the grower.
The portion of the address dealing
with packing is printed In this issue
and the remainder of the speech which
gives an excellent outline of the work
Of the union will be in next week 4
Glacier.
(By h. II. Shepard)
MIR. Mason, who addressed you ast
Saturday evening, and | agreed to
divide the apple of Hood River. lie
did the dividing and left me the core,
and after his talk OF last Saturday
night there is mighty little left for
the other fellow tn say, for which
am truly thankful as | am not much
OF talker anyway. In other words,
MIR. Mason was to handle the apple
from the planting to the packing table
and | am to take it from the pack.
Ing house to the consumer
Upon this subject you will natural
ly find there are many different views
and | do not want you to assume that
my personal views are correct, but
do want to say that we in Hood
River have Eeen successful, aud there
fore, will tell you how we do
thing1, from which you can draw
your own conclusions and afterwards
do as you think best.
After hauling the apples to the
warehouse they are wiped thorough
ly, but in wiping we do not rub the
apple, becuse that is apt to effect the
skin and shorten the keep. We siml y
wipe the apple suctfiiently to remove
the spray. For this purpose flannel
cloths ere used by some, but cheap
cotton gloves costing one dollar pei
dozen pair are found more convenient
and practical because with These the
work can be done more rapidly.
We simply aim to remove the spray
without taking Oft the bloom.
1t is desirable to remove the spray
for the reason that great many
people are afraid to eat an apple with
spray on, because they know it CON
tains arsenic; however, 1 want to say
that it takes all the spray that il
found on six hundred apples to make
a minimum dose of arsenical poison.
At the time the apples are wiped
they are graded. In grading we
make two grades of SpitZenberg
The led are those where the apple is
70 per cent of gond red color, and
the light are those the red does
not cover 10 per cent of surface OF
the apple. Ihe reds are branded
fancy" and tie fancy grade COM
prises the apples thst are free from
worms, worm stings, bruises, fun
gus, limb rubs and other blemishes.
10 other words perfect apples. Last
year We combined the Light and
Choice grades, putting the light
color as choice grade. The Choice
grade contains apples that are not
up to the fancy grade requirments
Such apples have slight limb rubs.
not larger than a ten cent piece,
apples that are slightly Oft In color,
apples with stingspots no bigger than
pin head, where the sting does not
puDcture the skin of the apple. In
general such apples that have varicuP
defsGts, which are not marked pro
minentIy, but such as exclude them
from the Fancy grade, however, we
only put 10 the Choice grade good
quality of marketable apples. In
some of the cheaper varieties Of red
srples, at least those that do not
bring fancy prices, we make but one
grade, which we call "orchsrd run. -
1t is practically the Fancy and
Choice grade combined. Yellow
apples, where the color is not q
feature OF consideration, are put In
two grades, Fancy and Choice.
While grading apples In Fancy and
Choice. where the packing house Is
of ample size, the glower at the same
time has his grades sorted according
to size, putting the 3 and 31a tier in
box together, the tier by them.
selves and the AZ and 5 tier by them
selves. In other words all apples 46
to 80 In a box by themselves, those
that run 96 to 108 by themselves aud
those that run $50 to 200 by them
sci yes. We do not pack anything
smaller than 200 apples in the box,
aud 1t is my personal opinion that
the apple grower would display good
Judgment by sending everything
smaller than ITS to the box to the
vinegar factory.
Separating apples in the manner
have already described Is very i'm.
portHnt because it enables the packer
to pack more rapidly and it.obviates
the necessity OF the packer paving
over ths apples where there are toe
many sizes on the table In order to
get the size he 10 packing out, and
this unnecessary paving over the
apples always causes more or less
br uising, which is very serious matter
as 1t effects the keep and the value
of the sppl-.
The diamond or diagonal pack Ii
unquestionable preferable to the
square pack, foi the following reasons.
In completing "a row across the box
10 the square pack the last apple has
to be crowded in 10 way that causes
some bruising In order to make the
row sufficiently tight. In the square
PACK the side OF the apple, which
bruises most easily comes in contact
with the adjoining apple on -four
sides, but in the diagonal pack each
apple rests in between the two ad
Joining apples in every direction and
the points Of contract are at the
blossom end and stem end, the part o
the apple that does aot bruise &C
easily and IL bruised the bruise doeI
not show 80 prominently. Each apple