236 ' Joiirvnl of Ar/ririilfi/re, Virfnrid. [10 April. 1918. 



STANDARDIZED PACKING AND GRADING OF FRUIT. 



By Ernest MeeJcing, Senior Fruit Inspector. 



Part T. 



Jjitroductor}/. 

 The ever increasing demands of niodeni civilization for improved 

 food, clotliing, housing, lighting, transportation, sanitation, and other 

 mate'rial henefits have brought the adoption of standardized methods of 

 production and manufacture to the fore. Even in such matters as public 

 education and hygiene, the ever-widening application of these has com- 

 pelled for their governance the adoption of certain fixed standards qr 

 laws. As a result, such phrases as "standard of living," "standard of 

 education," &c., as applied to communities or nations, and " standards of 

 purity," " standard of quality," &c., as applied to goods which communi- 

 ties or nations manufacture or produce, have now become commonplace 

 expressions of the public press and platform. 



Two considerations or motives lie at the back of this movement 

 towards standardization, the first based on utilitarian, and the second on 

 what may be termed ethical lines. Experience has shown that the surest 

 way to build up a permanent trade in any given article is to turn out 

 that article as nearly as possible in conformity with a standard grade. 

 This results in establishing a basis of value for the guidance of both the 

 seller and purchaser. For instance, to quote a few well-knowm examples, 

 all our most widely used brands of soaps, i:)etroleum oils, cornflours, bis- 

 cuits, motor cars, sporting guns, rifles, agricultural implements, tools, 

 optical and scientific instruments, spraying materials, drugs, and many 

 other articles too numerous to mention, have, by reason of their uniform 

 standard of quality, established a world-wide reputation, and a conse- 

 quent leading position in all markets. This exemplifies the truth of the 

 old adage that honesty is the best policy. 



But the practice of standardization has even a more deep-seated and, 

 perhaps, more important effect than merely enhancing or facilitating 

 the sale of goods to Avhich it is applied. It has a character-building 

 effect, inasmuch as it engenders a feeling of respect and trust on the part 

 of the consumer towards the producer or manufacturer of the goods, and 

 a feeling of pride or self-respect on the part of the producer or manufac- 

 turer, who realizes that the standard of his goods is accepted as a reflex 

 of the standard of his character — a reputation he is naturally determined 

 to maintain by keeping the goods at high-water mark. 



In addition to the foregoing, standardization also makes for efficiency 

 and economy in production, and gives the best results with a minimum 

 of waste in time, effort, and material. This is more clearly exemplified 

 in connexion with war activities than in the competition of modern trade 

 under peaceful conditions, no matter how strenuous that competition 

 may be. In time of war, this competition is intensified a thousandfold, 

 as it is not a question of the survival of an individual business, but one 

 on whose issue the fate of nations hangs. Any weakness in organization 

 or effieiency may prove fatal. This gives added significance to the fact 

 that the principle of standardization is far more widely and rigidly 

 applied in war than in any other human activity. Guns, munitions, 

 equipment, &c., are all made to standard patterns, and even methods of 



