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Show PACKING PEACHES FOR THEJiARKET Maturity at Which Fruit Is Picked Is One of Leading Factors Affecting Quality By F. M. COE -Agricultural Experiment Station. Dixie peaches, unlike those from the later sections of northern Utah, are used only for slicing and for eating fresh out of hand. Since, .if the grower is to receive a fair return, re-turn, a high price, 10 to 15 cents per pound must be paid by the consumer con-sumer in the stores, a product of attractive appearance and high quality is necessary to tempt him. With the increased acreage of young trees set out the past few years, the market for Dixie peaches must be widened and market outlets out-lets beyond Salt Lake, in Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and Colorado opened open-ed up. This must be done in competition com-petition with a closely graded and superbly packed California product. It is evident then, that the profitable marketing of our product depends upon high quality and a carefully graded, dependable pack. Probably no other factor affects quality, size and yield as much, as the maturity at which the fruit is picked. Green, Immature fruit develops de-velops poor quality, being bitter dry and sour. In addition, the grower grow-er loses heavily in size and yield of fruit. Harvesting experiments by the college show 100 per cent difference in average value, heavier yield of fruit from the same trees picked when firm ripe as compared with the first picking made 15 days earlier. On the other hand, fruit picked too ripe for the distance it must travel and the time it must be held, is frequently a cause of loss through over-ripeness and decay. Fruit too soft to stand handling is not wanted by dealers, and can be sold only at a loss. Packing green and ripe fruit in the same boxes is a serious mistake mis-take since part of the fruit must be exposed for sale while still green in order to save the ripe fruit. This difficulty can be overcome by careful care-ful instruction and supervision of pickers, and by sorting the fruit for maturity into three lots, one for distant shipping, one for the Salt Lake market and the fully ripe fruit for local markets. (Continued on page 3) PREPARING PEACHES FOR THE MARKET (Continued from page 1) To develop the best quality, none of the fruit should be a distinctly green color. Even for distant shipment ship-ment within the intermountain area, most of the green should have been replaced with a lemon yellow color. For northern Utah markets, the fruit should be yellowish orange on the unblushed side, but still firm. Close grading to insure freedom from defects, and uniform sizing of the fruit in the boxes is greatly facilitated by sorting the fruit before be-fore it goes into the packers' bins. This is best done on a .canvas-cov ered table separate from the packing pack-ing tables. This sorting bin should 1 have racks projecting on each sice of the sorter to hold lug boxes inio which the fruit is sorted from the canvas-topped table. Four boxes fcr each sorter is suggested, with a pail or basket underneath for cull fruit. The sorter can then classify the fruit into three sizes of fruit for shipment, ripe for local sales and culls. No. 1 fruit, according to tie U. S. grades which are standard, must be free from all blemishes, immaturity, imma-turity, bruising, skin breaks, soft fruit, worm holes and split pits, while a tolerance of 5 per cent serious blemishes (immaturity, soft : ripes, skin breaks, wormy fruit) and 10 per cent total blemishes is allowed, al-lowed, growers should play safe by j culling as closely as possible. For example, only four peaches with serious blemishes would cause rejection re-jection of a box of So's as off grade. , For fast and accurate packing, suitable and conveniently arranged equipment is a necessity. A packing I bin for each grade and size made I by the sorter, a fixed or movable 'stand large enough to hold two , cases to the left of the fruit to be packed, and a paper holder to the left on the box to be packed complete com-plete the packer's equipment. The stand should be slanted to keep the fruit from rolling around. The paper pa-per holder should stand above the box and be so arranged that the packer can remove one sheet of paper pa-per at a t;me with the aid of a rubber finger stall cn the middle finger. The paper is held at the corner by a spring needle holder. Not over one-fourth inch in diameter di-ameter variation in size should be allowed in peaches packed in the same box. Boxes with different heights of ends should be used for different sizes, i. e., 2t4l for small fruit, 2,.i for medium and 2?i for large peaches. The peaches are wrapped by holding the wrapper in the left hand, tossing the peach into it point down and completing the wrap with the right, placing the fruit stem end dowm with the left hand, with the pad made by the ends of paper underneath. Medium and large fruit should be packed ,3-2, 1. e., with three in the first row, one in each corner, and one centered and two in the second row. Small fruit packs best in the 3-3 style of pack. Particular attention atten-tion should be paid to securing a tight, full pack which will give the standard minimum net weight of 20 pounds. This is best secared by pulling the first layer tight and inserting another row of peaches across the top of the box. A bulge of one-half inch is necessary on each box to give a full appsarance on arrival at the market. Tliis is secured by using the correct size of box, through tight packing and careful sizing. A full pack goes a long ways toward making a satisfied satis-fied customer. |