22 



MASKING OF PACKAGES. 



MarJcs Required. The Canadian Fruit Marks Act prescribes that all closed 

 packages must be marked, first, with the name and address of the owner of the 

 fruit at the time of packing; second, with the variety of fruit; and third, its 

 grade. One of the four grade marks must be used, namely, Fancy, No. 1, No. 2, 

 or No. 3. Any one of these grade marks may be used together with any other 

 designation that is not contradictory to or more prominently marked than the 

 prescribed grade mark. 



The Act also provides that all packages, whether open or closed, must be so 

 packed that the face or shown surface fairly represents the grade of fruit all the 

 way through the package. 



Three grades are defined. The Fancy grade consists of fruit practically per- 

 fect. The No.' 1 grade allows 10 per cent, of imperfect fruit; 90 per cent, must 

 be practically free from serious defects and of good size and color. No. 2 grade 

 consists of 80 per cent, free from defects that would cause material waste; and all 

 apples whether defective or not must be nearly medium in size for the variety. 

 No. 3 grade is not defined. 



The workman who packs and marks fruit contrary to the provisions of the 

 Act is subject to a fine of not less than $5 and not more than $J:0. Anyone chang- 

 ing the marks upon packages after inspection is subject to a fine of not less than 

 $40 nor more than $500. 



At present an agitation is being started in Canada to adopt the same grade 

 marks as are used by the Western States. Their grade marks lead Canadian 

 buyers especially to think that American fruit is better, compared to Canadian 

 fruit, than it really is. The generally adopted American grade terms are Extra 

 Fancy, Fancy, and C, corresponding with the Canadian Fancy, No.l, and No. 2. 

 Thus it will be seen that Extra Fancy on American boxes is the same grade of 

 fruit as our Fancy. Similarly our No. 1 grade corresponds with their Fancy 

 grade. Their Fancy grade then is a grade lower than our Fancy marked fruit. 

 The disadvantage which Canadian growers have been at in competitive markets, 

 such as the Canadian Northwest, is therefore very evident. 



Tier vs. Numbee of Apples. 



The practice of stamping the exact number of apples contained in the box 

 rather than the tier is rapidly gaining in favor throughout the West. Marking 

 the number has several important advantages, the chief of which are: 



1. The adoption of the diagonal pack has made the old description of apples 

 by tiers inaccurate. For example, apples which in a straight pack would be 4-tier, 

 pack five actual tiers in the diagonal. Yet they are marked 4-tier. 



2. The retailer sells by number and naturally prefers to buy in the same way 

 as he can tell at a glance what price he can profitably pay for a box. The con- 

 sumer also appreciates the information given by the number. 



3. The designation by tiers is as misleading to the grower as to the consumer. 

 Boxes are stamped more according to the size of the apple rather than the actual 

 number of tiers contained. They are stamped 4-tier and 4i/2-tier when they actu- 

 ally contain 5-tiers, and 5-tier when they actually do not have five tiers. Thus 

 only an expert is able to distinguish packs in the terms of tiers. 



