78 THE STRAWBERRY IN NORTH AMERICA 



contain one pint each; but say that three baskets con- 

 tained one quart, which is quite within bounds." Pun- 

 nets and pottles found Httle favor except in the vicinity 

 of Boston and New York and were soon discarded for 

 more convenient and less expensive packages. 



From these very small receptacles the practice in some 

 places swung to the opposite extreme of large tubs and 

 drawers. In 1854 Robert Buist protested : "The present 

 mode is disgusting in the extreme ; large tub fulls, bruised 

 and crushed, spooned into quart measure from vessels of 

 very questionable character in both color and appear- 

 ance. The denizens carrying home their quantum of 

 mashed matter under the name of strawberries can know 

 little, from such a mixture, of the delicious aroma and 

 rich flavor of the pure fruit." ^ 



The Cincinnati stand of drawers. — "About 1848," 

 says J. M. Smith, "such strawberries as were grown for 

 market were first hulled and then sold by the quart or 

 peck, dry measure, as needed." This practice was more 

 common in the upper Mississippi Valley than in the East. 

 There, the Cincinnati tray or stand of drawers, became the 

 standard package, especially in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana 

 and Missouri. The trays or drawers were made in 

 various sizes. On'^ of the first in use by Cincinnati growers 

 was described by Charles Cist, in 1848, as " cases or stands 

 of five to eight drawers, each drawer containing from 30 

 to 40 quarts, which lie an average depth of two or two 

 and one half inches." ^ About 1864, the stand commonly 

 used was two feet long, twenty inches wide, and held five 

 drawers two inches deep, each holding one half bushel 

 (Fig. 6). The bottom boards were one quarter inch 



1 "Family Kitchen Gardener," p. 216. 



2 U. S. Patent Office Report, 1848, p. 610. 



