BULLETIN 216] [OCTOBER, 1913 



Ontario Department of Agriculture 



FRUIT BRANCH 



Box-Packing of Apples 



E. F. PALMER 



INTRODUCTION. 



The packing of apples in boxes is an established custom in British Columbia 

 and the Pacific States. In Ontario, ' box packing is, as yet, comparatively in its 

 infancy. With every year, however, it is attaining to greater prominence, and 

 rightly so, as no matter how good a product may be, unless it is packed in such a 

 way as to reach the market in good condition, and at the same time be attractive, 

 it will not bring the highest prices. But a good product handled in an attractive 

 package is sure to be the first in demand and to command a good price, even when 

 the market is glutted. 



It is almost a crime to handle some of the choice fruit in the way it is being 

 handled. Of course, a certain percentage of the fruit is too small, too imperfect 

 to warrant the extra outlay. Nevertheless, an attractive package will often sell 

 fruit that is not of the highest quality; that is, second-grade fruit, if well packed, 

 will often bring a profit where there might otherwise have been a loss; but what 

 we should strive to do is to pack quality fruit in quality packages. In the very 

 beginning, it must be clearly understood that to receive the best returns we must 

 not only understand the details of packing, which, after all, are matters of ex- 

 perience, but we must be strictly honest and scrupulously clean. These factors, 

 coupled with methods approved as correct, will bring success in apple packing. 



Box packing is destined to become a more important factor each year. For, 

 though the day of high prices is probably gone forever, this fact in itself brings 

 the box-packed fruit in more direct competition with barrel-packed fruit. The 

 result is that the market for barreled fruit will become more and more restricted 

 each year, and there will be a demand for larger and larger quantities of boxed 

 apples. 



The barrel undoubtedly encourages carelessness in grading for quality and size. 

 It has been the package, not so much of inferior grades of apples, as un.graded apples. 

 T.et the top and bottom of the barrel be nicely "faced," and the space between invites 

 ungraded fruit. The box, on the contrary, requires close grading for size, as the 

 apples must be uniform to pack properly. This close grading further insures that 

 all defective fruit will be found and culled out. 



