106 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



quarter-bushel barrels. His impression was that the better plan is to use 

 the measure others use, but pack honestly. 



Mr. MoEEiLL: That is my friend's opportunity. City buyers will 

 notice the difference very quickly, and he will have no trouble to get and 

 hold a permanent trade. When Chicago buyers take a whole orchard of 

 apples, they always pack in full-size barrels. Three pints per case is all 

 the difference there is in berries, between dry measure and wine measure, 

 but the difference obtainable in price amply compensates for this, and 

 more too. The difference in price of the full and " snide " barrel of 

 apples is from 50 to 75 cents, while the extra cost of the larger barrel is 

 but five cents. Practically, this makes the extra peck sell for 50 to 75 

 cents. 



Mr. Stearns: Both these gentlemen are correct. One sells in Chicago, 

 the other in Kalamazoo. I began selling here twenty-five years ago. For 

 ten or twelve years I used full-size packages and tried to educate the 

 public ; but I found it was useless, and since have used wine measure pack- 

 ages. Buyers here will not discriminate, but in Chicago dealers will 

 decide very quickly in favor of the larger measures. 



A voice: Is there a legal barrel? 



Another: Yes; a contract naming so many barrels would require three 

 bushels to each. 



Mr. Comings: The full-measure package adopted by the Cranberry 

 association holds 100 quarts. This is standard; and they are so branded 

 and may be relied upon. 



Mr. Beecher: Custom in Genesee county requires use of the three- 

 bushel barrel. It proves more satisfactory than others, both to grower 

 and seller. 



Mr. Tracy: There is a way out of all these difficulties, and the Cali- 

 fornians have found it. It is to sell by weight. [Applause.] 



Mr. A. J. Murphy of Plainwell: I have just found out that a barrel is 

 not necessarily three bushels. No other measure of a barrel is known in 

 my vicinity. 



Mr. Morrill: We shoiild come to a standard, whatever it is, and 

 adhere to it. 



Mr. Monroe: Howells' Statutes, page 447, fixes 48 pounds as the 

 measure of a bushel of apples " whenever sold by weight." On page 448, 

 third-bushel packages of peaches are required to contain 716 and 4-5 

 cubic inches. On the same pagQ the " quantity making a barrel of fruit, 

 etc.," is thus described: " that quantity contained in a barrel made from 

 staves 27 inches in length, and each head 16^ inches in diameter or 

 ordinary flour-barrel size." Another section requires that packages of 

 less than one bushel shall contain the full amount represented accord- 

 ing to "the bushel of 32 quarts." There is, of course, a penalty for viola- 

 tion of these provisions. 



Mr. Morrill: Then every fruitgrower is a criminal. 



The closing number in the programme was by Prof. A. J. Cook of 

 Michigan Agricultural college, who read the following paper: 



CURRANT BORERS. 



The importance of the currant among our common fruits is hardly 

 appreciated, even among our best pomologists. The general farmer sets a 



