Page 6 



BETTER FRUIT 



jith 



trade. The future tendency will prob- 

 ably be that the East and West will 

 continue to use their respective pack- 

 ages with but minor variations. One 

 fact stands out as being established be- 

 yond question, namely, that if boxes are 

 to be used at all, the fruit has to be 

 above the average in quality and prop- 

 erly graded, and the whole package 

 must be made attractive. Without these 

 attributes fruit cannot be placed profit- 

 ably in any market. The cost of box 

 packing makes this type of package 

 almost prohibitive in the handling of 

 the lower grades of fruit. The slatted 

 box and the barrel have been suggested 

 as a means of overcoming this difficulty 

 in the Northwest. The following tables 

 from Bailey's "Farm and Garden Rule 

 Book" show the legal weights to the 

 bushel of apples and the legal sizes of 

 apple boxes and barrels in the several 

 states named; also the usual standard 

 (not legal) sizes of apple boxes and the 

 heaped bushel expressed in cubic inches 

 in such states as have expressed the 

 capacity of the heaped bushel in that 

 form. All of these boxes, where actu- 

 ally used, are subject to considerable 

 variation in capacity, resulting from 

 the use or non-use of cleats under the 

 covers. 



BOX AND BARREL SIZES, AND WEIGHTS 



PER Bt'SHEL. 



Arkansas Green apples .in lbs. per bu. 



Box size: 20x12x9 — lawful bushel measure. 



Connecticut Apples 48 lbs. per bu. 



Florida Green apples 48 lbs. per bu. 



Iowa Apples 48 lbs. per bu. 



Kansas Green apples 48 lbs. per bu. 



Maine Apples 44 lbs. per bu. 



Box size: 20x11x10 inches — 22.30 cu. in.; 

 standard bushel box. 



Barrel size: Head ITi-s, staves 28%, bulge 

 64 inches — 3 bushels, 

 ^raryland 



Box size: 2212 cubic inches. 



Barrel size: 6253% cubic inches. 



Massachusetts ...Apples 48 lbs. per bu. 



Michigan Apples 48 lbs. per bu. 



Barrel size: Heads 17 '4, staves 27 inches, 

 or flour barrel size. 



Nebraska Green apples 48 lbs. per bu. 



New .lersey Apples .'iO lbs. per bu. 



New York Apples 48 lbs. per bu. 



Barrel size: Head 17'^, staves 28Vo, bulge 

 64 inches — 100 quarts. 



Minnesota Green apples .'jO lbs. per bu. 



Missouri Apples 48 lbs. per bu. 



Barrel size: Heads I714, staves 28 V™, dia- 

 meter center inside 2OV2 inches. 

 North Carolina ..Green apples 48 lbs. per bu. 



North Dakota. .. .Apples 50 lbs. per bu. 



Ohio Apples 50 lbs. per bu. 



Barrel size: Head 17i.i, staves 281/2, bulge 

 66 inches. 

 Oregon Apples 45 lbs. per bu. 



Standard box: lOL^xll i/,xl8— 2173V2 cu. in. 



Standard box: 20x11x10 — 2200 cu. in. 



Tennessee Green apples 50 lbs. per bu. 



Texas Apples 50 lbs. per bu. 



Vermont Apples 46 lbs. per bu. 



Virginia Apples 45 lbs. per bu. 



Barrel size: Head 17i^, staves 27%, bulge 

 64 inches. 

 Washington Green apples 45 lbs. per bu. 



Box size: 10%xll%xl8 inches. 

 Wisconsin Apjjles 48 lbs. i)er bti. 



Barrel size; 100 quarts. 



OTHER APPLE BOX SIZES. 



California 4n-lb. . .20%xl0%x9i(, . . .1965 cu. in. 

 California 50-Ib.. .20%xlli4xl0% . .2393 cu. in. 



Canadian Legal. . .20x11x10 2200 cu. in. 



Colorado 18x11x12 2376 cu. in. 



Washington Sped ,20x11x10 2200 cu. in. 



N. W. Special 20x12x10 2100 cu. in. 



LEGAL HEAPED BISHEL CAPACITIES. 



Connecticut 2564 cu. in. 



Kansas 2504 cu. in. 



Washington 2564 cu. in. 





•''^•■: 



f-iSf^ 



"^^m:- 





•S 



-1 



Courtesy of SnuHurn I'mllir liiiUnuit] 



Hay Field, Western Oregon 



The history of the pear package does 

 not dilfer extremely from that of the 

 apple, in that development was along 

 practically the same lines. It is true 

 that the pear industry has not devel- 

 oped nearly as rapidly as has the apple. 

 It has been until recently more of a 

 local proposition with pears, since they 

 will not stand shipping and rougher 

 treatment, nor keep as well in cold 

 storage as will the apple. 



On account of the diU'erent chiu'acler- 

 istics of the pear of the East and of the 

 West, and the uses to which the pears 

 are put, the packages would necessarily 

 vary considerably. The half bushel 

 peach basket is commonly used in han- 

 dling the pear crop for delivery to 

 consumers in the Eastern states. The 

 barket usually goes under the name of 

 five-eighths bushel. This basket, with 

 a slatted cover, is also very largely useil 

 in shipping by steamer and otherwise 

 to Baltimore and Philadelphia. The Dear 

 box with a middle partition and holding 

 from three pecks to one bushel is very 

 commonly used in the Eastern states. 

 This box is rather attractive and helps 

 to sell the fruit. 



In New York and the New England 

 states bushel kegs are very largclv used 

 for shipidng Bartletts, Aniovis and other 

 pears. A still larger i)ac!.anc for shin- 

 ping pears, smaller and with less btd.<re 

 than the common apple barrel, holds 

 2'; bushels. The Le Conte and Kielfcr 

 pears are frequently shipped in regular 

 apple barrels. Somelimes boxes are 

 used for the fancier grades of fruit. 

 There seems to be a diversity of oiiin- 

 ion amon.g Eastern growers regarding 

 the most desirable type of package in 

 placing this fruit upon the market. 

 l'robai)ly tlie best package for the loc;d 

 market is the bushel box or the half- 

 bushel hamper basket. For the distant 

 market, varieties like the Kieffer and 



Duchess seem to be preferred in bar- 

 rels. A few of the progressive growers 

 have discovered that the basket can be 

 packed with regular packs almost as 

 conveniently as the box, and that not 

 only are the carrying qualities of the 

 fruit enhanced, but the basket presents 

 a much more pleasing appearance. 



The pear growers of the Pacific Coast 

 pack most r)f their fruit in boxes, as is 

 the case with ajjples. Most of the pears 

 grown on the Pacific Coast are mar- 

 keted in the Eastern cities. The box 

 proba!)l\' being the most economical 

 and ellicient package for long distance 

 shipping, has for this reason come into 

 general use. The smaller varieties such 

 as the Seckel are packed in half boxes, 

 and the larger pears such as the Bosc 

 and Anjou are marketed in packages 

 that are somewhat smaller than the 

 standard apple box. The ideal package 

 for the pear will, in all jjrobability. be 

 a half box, somewhat shorter than our 

 stanchird ajMile box, practically such as 

 is used by California ])ackers. The fol- 

 lowing table shows dimensions of some 

 of the pear p;ickages in common use: 



Northwest standard pear box — Si'-jXiOil.xISH 



Pear h.Tif box— tiJxll«,xl8V4. 



Vermont — 58 lbs. per bushel. 



lov.a — 15 lbs. per bushel. 



Indiana — 2150 cubic inches. 



A'innesota — 45 lbs. per bushel. 



New Mexico — Size box. ISxlli'.xS inches; 18 

 lbs. per bushel. 



New York — IS lbs. per bushel; 100 (|uarls 

 per bari'el. 



r. S. — 18 lbs. per bushel. 



R. .1.-48 lbs. per bushel. 



ralifornia pear box— 9x1 1^4x1 9*4 ; 50 !hs. 

 pel- box. 



California pear box (export) — l^'jxl 1^4 \10% 

 — 21 lbs. per box. 



With the manv dilferent races of 

 l)eaches under cultivalion in the I'niird 

 Stales it is true that the regions in 

 whicli peaches can i)e grown include 

 practically the whole country, ;ind n;il- 

 Continucd on page 27 



