STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES OF FRUITS. 



193 



Mr. Dennis. — Mr. President, I think you are chairman of a com- 

 mittee chosen at our last annual meeting to report at this meeting upon 

 the weights of fruits. 



The President. — Nothing definite has been accomplished in this 

 matter. So long as we sell apples by the bushel we should have a general 

 standard weight for a bushel, or a standard for each of the leading 

 varieties. 



Several members spoke of the necessity of a scale of weights, but only 

 Mr. Hammond seemed to have made careful tests. 



Mr. Hammond said : I have made many tests this fall, and find by 

 weighing that they run about as follows: Large Ben Davis, 44 lbs., 

 and from that up to 51 lbs. for smaller ones; Winesap and Janet, 

 50 lbs.; Fulton and Little Romanite, 51 lbs.; Bellflower the same 

 as Ben Davis, and Rambo, 48 to 49 lbs.; but nearly every variety has 

 a different weight from others. 



A Voice. — What did you measure in? 



Mr. Hammond. — In a sealed half-bushel, rounded up as long as the 

 apples would lay on without careful placing. 



Mr. Minier. — The time is coming when we shall get rid of the old- 

 fashioned method of measuring; it is so unfair as to appear nonsensical. 

 Let us as a society use all our efforts to establish a sensible system of 

 weights, like the cental system in France, and let us as a society, too, 

 start the ball in motion by selling our products by the pound or hundred 

 pounds. 



RE-APPOINTMENT OF CO.MMITTEE ON WEIGHTS OF FRUITS. 



Mr. Dennis offered the following resolution, which was adopted: 



Resolved, That T. J. Burrill be made chairman of Committee on Weights of 

 Fruits, and that he appoint a committee of one from each county to report to said 

 chairman (Burrill), and that he compile the results of their investigations and report 

 them to the next meeting of this Society. 



Mr. Robison. — I found my apples to weigh more than Mr. Ham- 

 mond's, and also found the smaller and poorer ones to weigh more than 

 good ones; and there is where the difficulty is going to lie; as this is 

 just the opposite to what we find in grain, where the larger and better 

 the kernel the more it weighs. I have fixed the average weight of a 

 bushel of sound apples at 50 lbs. 



A Voice (to Mr. Hammond). — How much does a barrel hold ? 



Mr. Hammond. — Two-and-five-eighths bushels. 



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