THE BOX PACKAGE; ITS USE AND LIMITATIONS 247 



2. The Market. — A good deal depends upon what a certain market 

 prefers in the matter of fruit packages as well as in fruit varieties. 

 West of the Mississippi there is special necessity for caution in this 

 respect. Some buyers want their fruit in boxes, and others prefer 

 barrels, according to the market they expect to reach. The grower who 

 ships should be equally wise. 



3. Poor Packing and Grading. — More failures arise from this cause 

 than from any other. The art of packing boxes is not acquired in an 

 hour. It is work for specially trained men, not for the average farm 

 help. In this respect it differs materially from barrel packing, which 

 may be quite well done by ordinary help. Moreover, the habits of several 

 generations of men who have packed in barrels, using "facers" and 

 "fillers" have descended to the fruit growers of today and many of 

 them find it extremely difficult to keep the smaller, poorly colored, or 

 slightly imperfect specimens from gravitating to the bottom of the 

 box. It will take a generation or two, perhaps, to breed out that habits 

 The western man deserves no credit for being more honest in this 

 respect for, as has been pointed out, honesty was not merely the best 

 policy for him, but the only policy that would pay freight rates. 



General Conclusions. 



The drift is all towards the smaller package. This is in keeping 

 with the trend of the times with respect to other commodities. There- 

 is no doubt but that the box package, or at least the smaller type of 

 package, will some time entirely supplant the barrel. The smaller 

 package will not necessarily be made of wood. We can expect the 

 wooden package to be replaced, eventually, by paper, cellulose, or some 

 other cheaper material. Even now some very substantial paper boxes are 

 on the market. When speaking of the box type of package, therefore, 

 we refer to the size and shape of package, rather than to the material. 



But while the box type of package is the ideal toward which we 

 are rapidly working, it by no means follows that every eastern fruit 

 grower should begin packing in boxes at once. He should begin only 

 when he is ready, and nine-tenths of the growers are not ready. To be 

 ready for box packing means that the grower can get good boxes 

 about as cheap as barrels, bushel for bushel; that he is able to grow 

 a crop of fruit, preferably of high quality varieties, at least 90 per 

 cent of which is fancy or No. 1; that he is able to command skillful and 

 experienced packers; that he is able to put a large quantity of box 

 fruit on the market, not one year only, but year after year, so as to 

 win a reputation for the brand, and that he ships his fruit to markets 

 that are already familiar with the box pack and take kindly to it. 

 At the present time not one apple grower out of ten, east of the IMissis- 

 sippi, is able to meet these conditions. 



With respect to the market the fruit grower must recognize the 

 different demands of two entirely different types of markets. One of 

 these, the common or general market, will pay a fair price for good or 



