270 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The time is not far from us when this matter of packages for 

 plum shipping will have to be considered. Hundreds and, I might 

 say, thousands of new plum orchards in this state are just coming 

 into bearing, and some way more practical than the haphazard 

 methods now used is certainly necessary. 



Mr. W. B. Mason : I would like to ask the gentleman whether 

 he would make his cases so they would hold an even half bushel 

 of plums ? 



Mr. Older : We have used the bushel basket ourselves. 



Mr. Mason : I have been making cases that hold a half bushel 

 of plums for five years, and they are very successful. 



Mr. Older: With California plums a small package is gen- 

 erally found to be better. 



Mr. H. L. Crane : I ship my plums in sixteen quart crates 

 and large baskets. At certain times during the season I do better 

 with crates, and at other times baskets take better. I have custo- 

 mers that object to both kinds. So far as shipping in bushel bas- 

 kets is concerned I do not think that measure is a good thing to use, 

 although I have made use of it. It bruises the fruit more or less, 

 and it becomes juicy before it is sold. So I am not satisfied with 

 any measure I have used, although what I have used is the best I 

 could get. I have used the large grape basket to some extent, and it 

 makes a very handy package, but the buyer objects because he does 

 not know how much the basket holds and what quantity he is 

 paying for. If there were no objection to the grape basket on the 

 part of the buyers it would certainly be a very handy package in 

 which to handle plums. It looks neat and tidy. I think if every- 

 body would adopt that sort of a package, it would be the best way 

 of selling plums. Now they are shipped in boxes, two bushel 

 sacks, sixteen quart crates, all kinds of baskets, and none of the 

 packages are satisfactory. If there were some standard way of 

 bringing plums to market it would be much better. 



Mr. O. M. Lord : I have been very fortunate this year in 

 selling my plums at home. I sold very few in the general market. 

 I prefer to ship them in one-third bushel baskets covered with net- 

 ting. They are picked into the same baskets, and our pickers are 

 generally little girls. I do not like to pour them from one basket 

 into another if it is possible to do otherwise. Commission men like 

 them best in that form. I have tried to get them to take smaller 

 baskets, but without effect. The commission men then put them 

 up in smaller baskets. 



Mr. Wright : Does not the express come a little higher when 

 the baskets are covered with netting? 



Mr. Lord : I don't know that there is much difference in the 

 express charges. The express charges are made by the hundred, 

 and it does not matter much how they are packed or what the pack- 

 age is. I send them by express almost invariably. 



Mr. Wright: I find that out our way the express rates are 

 higher when the baskets are covered with netting, because they 

 cannot be piled up. 



