Page 14 



BETTER FRUIT 



March, igso 



Fruit Box Supply for 1920 Reported Serious 



By Shad 0. Krantz 



ON account of the comparatively bet- 

 ter prices for lumber, material that 

 ordinarily goes into box shooks will be 

 cut into other stock this year unless the 

 fruit packers of the Northwest awaken 

 to the situation that is confronting 

 them and order their boxes early, was 

 the statement made at the recent meet- 

 ing of the West Coast Lumbermen's 

 Association held in Portland. 



Market conditions as influenced by 

 demands of the fruit industry furnished 

 the principal topic of discussion at the 

 meeting. The proposal to change speci- 

 fications on certain standard boxes so 

 as to permit the use of two-piece ends 

 was presented and while the meeting 

 went on record as favoring the manu- 

 facture of cannery cases and fruit boxes 

 with one or two piece ends and sides 

 and two or three piece tops and bot- 

 toms, it did not make any definite agree- 

 ment as to the exact style of box that 

 would be manufactured. It is expected 

 that this question will be brought be- 

 fore the association at some future date 

 for final determination. 



As temporary chairman George M. 

 Cornwall, editor of the Timberman, 

 pointed out to the box manufacturers 

 their responsibility in helping to main- 

 tain the growth of the fruit industry on 

 the Pacific Coast by providing sufficient 

 box material, while E. E. Young, of the 

 California Peach Growers' Supply Com- 

 pany, who was elected permanent 

 chairman declared that owing to the 

 lumber shortage and apparently perma- 

 nent car shortage it will be necessary 

 for the box manufacturers to exert 

 early efforts to meet the requirements 

 of the box-using trade. 



At the suggestion of the chairman, 

 G. M. Calef, of the Liberty Box Com- 

 pany of Tacoma, discussed the competi- 

 tion of the fibre container. Mr. Calef 

 advised the meeting that the Carna- 

 tion Milk Products Company now is 

 using fibre packages extensively in its 



domestic trade, but that in his own ex- 

 perience he had learned that buyers 

 almost invariably prefer the wood box; 

 substitution of the fibre container is 

 due to difference in price, only, he 

 added. 



W. C. Geddes of the Oregon Lumber 

 Company reported the recent establish- 

 ment of a fibre box plant at Ogden, 

 Utah — the center of the canning indus- 

 try in that state. This industry, he said, 

 formerly used 7,000,000 feet of box 

 shooks annually. In 1919 at least 10 

 per cent of these requirements were 

 furnished in fibre and he anticipated 

 that even a greated proportion of fibre 

 will be used this year. 



In 1919, he explained, the two-pound 

 fibre case sold at $11.90 per 100, deliv- 

 ered in Utah, which was substantially 

 lower than wood boxes could be sold 

 for. He enumerated the objections 

 raised by the trade against the fibre 

 container and reported on the new fibre 

 box made of waterproof material. 



C. M. Crego of the Western Pine Man- 

 ufacturing Company of Spokane, de- 

 clared that fibre will not materially af- 

 fect the large volume of shook business 

 available. He suggested that ultimately 

 waste from the box factories may be 

 used in producing fibre containers. 



George E. Chaffee of the Lumber 

 Products, Ltd., Vancouver, B. C, out- 

 lined the conditions under which the 

 British Columbia box manufacturers 

 operate, advising the volume of their 

 local market and how they have urged 

 upon growers to take delivery of fruit 

 boxes beginning in December, 1919, and 

 continuing at the manufacturer's option 

 until June and later. This practice has 

 been established satisfactorily by Brit- 

 ish Columbia operators and will fore- 

 stall the possibility of a very large 

 shortage of containers for handling the 

 fruit crop of that district. Apple boxes 

 there are now selling at 26c delivered, 

 or 24c F. O. B. mill. 



G. A. Parkins of the Brooks-Scanlon 

 Lumber Co., of Bend, Oregon, said his 

 plant, which cut 15,000,000 feet into box 

 shooks in 1919 was operating very light 

 on account of low and greatly broken 

 lumber stocks. He said that the aver- 

 age cost of converting lumber into 

 shooks ranges from $11.35 to !fl3.00 per 

 1,000 shook footage. With Mr. Parkins 

 leading the discussion and various 

 members participating, it was found 

 that the waste of conversion ranges 

 from 10% to 207o of the lumber utilized, 

 which with the manufacturing costs 

 and value of lumber, brought the cost 

 of shook production from $50 to $60, 

 depending on the grade of lumber util- 

 ized. 



J. L. Reeder of the California Peach 

 Growers, Fresno, California, spoke of 

 the large and growing demand for all 

 classes of fresh and dried fruit pack- 

 ages and vegetable crates in the Cali- 

 fornia markets. He stated that the pres- 

 ent consumption of box shook in the 

 state of California approximates 

 550,000,000 feet per annum, while the 

 increased acreage now set and rapidly 

 coming into bearing would increase 

 this consumption to approximately 

 800,000,000 feet within five years; he 

 stated in the Fresno district there are 

 50,000 acres of peach orchards, with 

 10,000 to 15,000 added acres coming into 

 bearing within the next few years. 

 There are 200,000 acres of raisins and 

 shipments in 1919, approximated 35,000 

 tons of peaches and 200,000 tons of 

 raisins. The fig crop in the Fresno dis- 

 trict is rapidly increasing and will be 

 ten times as large as at present within 

 a comparative short time. The approx- 

 imate acreage of figs at present is from 

 five to ten thousand and there is now 

 being planted 14,000 additional acres. 

 In four years the fig acreage will be 

 from 20,000 to 25,000. The raisin and 

 peach crops in the Fresno district con- 

 sumed 30,000,000 feet of box shooks dur- 

 ing 1919. This district requires 3,000,000 

 drying trays and approximately 1,000,- 

 000 sweat-boxes per annum. 



Continued on page 36. 



the Point 



FRUIT 

 WRAPPER 



Chemically Treated 

 "Caro" Protects 



"Caro" from DessiCARE (to dry up) 



"Caro" 

 Prolongs the 

 Life of Fruit 



Why? 



Fruit decomposition starts from a bruise which opens tiny holes and permits the juice to escape and BACTERIA to enter. 

 "Caro" clings closely and dries up the escaping juice. "Caro" ingredients harden the spot, kill the BACTERIA, arrests the decom- 

 position—and thus PROLONGS THE LIFE OF FRUIT. If your fruit is worth shipping it is worth keeping in best condition. 



Demand "CARO"— Wrap Your Fruit in "CARO"— Tlie Fruit Buyer Knows "CARO" 



Order from Any Fruit Company or American Sales Agencies Co., 112 Maricet St., San Francisco 



WHEN WRITING ADVERTISERS MENTION BETTER FRUIT 



