The Delta independent. [volume] (Delta, Colo.) 1886-19??, 1911-09-22
The Right Kind of IA Pack.
F. w ALDEN

=. WALDEN
Early in our experience in put
ting up box apples we had much
trouble with the mixing of sizes
and never got entirely satisfac-
tory results until we adopted the
plan of having the apples sorted
before packing. Another thing
we are very careful about is the
rejection of all imperfect apples.
If an apple is worIny even if
it only shows worm work-it
must be rejected for the fancy pack.
If the apple is bruised or pecked by
birds or scuffed by hail or in any
manner is damaged it must be
rejected. The bigger the Gull pile
the larger the bank account at the
end Of the season. 1t takes grit to
reject some apples. There may be
. small speck which may not seri-
ously affect the apple and the temp
tation is to put it into the box.
But if the sorters or packers
are allowed any liberty in this mat
ter II will soon grow so that really
unfit apples will be packed. | be
lieve that no man should be hon
est as a matter of policy but as in
the Chinese religion, be honest be-
cause it is right. Nothing in the
long run will pay such dividend as
righteousness. In packing some
varieties of apples we pay no at
/ tention to the color-all go regard
less OF color. But some apples
must be sorted as TO color. In
packing Winesaps the rule is to
include in the first class only
those apples that are three-fourths
solid red The others although
sound and good in every respect
must be put in a class by them
/ selves and marked pales. These
pale apples will not sell for as much
as the highly colored boxes and
frequently for not more than half
as much And yet We must make
this separation or lose on all of
them.
This is an almost universal rule,
that If two grades of apples are
put into the same box. the whole
box viii have to be sold at the
price of the lower grade. If there
are five tier apples in a four tier
box. even though not very many
of them, the whole box will sell
at the price of five tier goods of
that variety. Apples must be pack
tight in the box in all directions.
The box must be full and both the
top and bottom be bulged in the
middle. This bulge will be from a
hall inch to an inch and a half in
some cases.
in n1lr-inp
our tops but the box sits on cletes
at the ends so that the bulge is
communicated to both top and bot
tom. When the top is put on, the
lone who does that work stamps the
name of the firm, the name of the
apple and grade of the apple on
one end of the box. A careful grow
er should never allow an apple box
To go out of his packing house with
out all these things stamped on the
box. If he is ashamed to have his
name appear on the box he should
not allow it to go out at all. One
OF the questions that comes up at
this stage of our work is. should
We use paper in packing our ap-
pies? Good men differ at this point.
We have wrestled over this paper
question and settled it as far as
we are concerned. We use paper
in two and sometimes three pur-
poses.
First, we line all our apple box
es with clean. white paper. 1t Civ
es the work finished appearance
and we believe it pays us. Then
We wrap all our apples separately
This is protection to the fruit
and generally helps the sale. And
the layers in some of our best pack
ing. This is done when the apples
are to go to some of the large cit
les on the Atlantic coast. We find
that ii pays us to use wrapping
paper. At first our packers wanted
a Larger price for packing the wrap
ped apple but now they prefer TO
wrap them without additional pay.
II does not take as much time TO
fit the apples into the box when
wrapped. There is a little give to
the apples that are wrapped. as
the paper is folded up on the un-
der side and this allows for the
eivings. 1t pays to put up apples
III the most attractive form.
-d-
East Wants the Next Apple Show.
That the West is lining up for
the purpose of preventing the 49,
meeting of the American Apple
Congress from going to some city
in the East or middle West is ap-
parent, according to information re-
ceived at the office of the congress
in Denver the first of the week
salt Lake City wants the meeting
next year and so does Portland,
Oregon. From Utah comes the an