40 STATE HOKTICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 



dry measure packages and stamped the capacity thereon. These packages are 

 now used by a few fruit growers who ship under their names and brand each 

 package with the capacity thereof, but the larger part of the small fruits grown 

 in the St. Joseph region are now being shipped in the smaller package. Three 

 sizes of small fruit boxes are now being manufactured in Michigan. The box 

 in general use has a capacity of 60 cubic inches. The box used by the small 

 fruit growers of southern Illinois presents a large surface, is of less depth 

 than the Michigan box, and has a capacity of from 60 to 62|- inches. Know- 

 ing that the small box sells best, some of our manufacturers have recently 

 pandered to the "snide" side of human nature by raising the bottom of the 

 form of the full quart box to one inch. A three-fourths inch space below 

 the bottom of the Michigan box is necessary. If heaped on the box the fruit 

 will not be up to level measure when presented on the market, but all boxes 

 having a space of more than three-fourths of an inch should be branded as a 

 fraud wherever found. The use of small and attractive fruit packages for the 

 retail trade is necessary, and the demand for small fruit packages has been 

 largely augmented by re-packers and small dealers in our large cities, who buy 

 fruits which have been transported long distances in large packages and 

 re-pack and manipulate for the retail market. The re-packers and "snide" 

 dealers in Chicago use the Michigan package, and whatever sins of omission and 

 commission are committed by re-packers are charged to Michigan fruit growers 

 who use the same style of package. 



During the past winter the Berrien county Horticultural Society has discussed 

 at length the evils of the present fruit package system. The Society concluded 

 that laws by several States, which should require the marking of every package 

 used with the exact capacity thereof, would abolish the "snide" package, and 

 a standard size would necessarily come into use. A committee was appointed 

 by the Society to draft a bill and present the same to the legislature of Michi- 

 gan and Illinois, President Tate, chairman of the committee, forwarded copy 

 of bill to our representatives at Lansing, when it was referred to the proper 

 committee and was shorn of all provisions to make it effective, and tiually 

 tabled. The committee presented a copy of the bill to a Chicago member of 

 the legislature of Illinois, where it was ignored on tlie ground that the people 

 were asking for too many reformatory measures, and that the bill would obstruct 

 the free and easy motion of the wheels of trade in the city of Chicago. Wher- 

 ever legislation has been attempted by the several States for the purpose of 

 establishmg legal measures for perishable fruits, nothing has been accomplished, 

 for the reason that no legal standard is recognized in any part of the country. 

 Many contend that our soft, perishable berries should not be subjected to dry 

 measure measurement; and as such fruits partake more of the fluid than of the 

 solid ingredients, and as the custom of buying and selling berries by wine meas- 

 ure has prevailed during a long time, they claim that the arbitrary establish- 

 ment of the practically obsolete dry measure at this time would be inexpedient 

 and unjust. All fruit growers will, howevei', concede that the establishment of 

 a standard measure will conduce to their interests, and whatever system or ca- 

 pacity of fruit package may be deemed preferable, all associations of fruit 

 growers, all package manufacturers and dealers in fruits, should cooperate for 

 the purpose of establishing one system of fruit measurements, which shall be 

 valid in the State and inter-State exchanges of all varieties of fruits. 



Mr. Lannin : The fruit growers down at South Haven patronize your pack- 

 age establishments to some extent, and only recently sent in quite an order for 



