82 THE STRAWBERRY IN NORTH AMERICA 



them, preferring to see the fruit measured out. Fourth, 

 commission men do not Uke them, as it is too much 

 trouble to gather them in, and in fact, an impossibility. 

 Fifth, the cost is too great." These early boxes were 

 shipped in various styles and sizes of heavy, home-made 

 crates. Crates had long been used for shipping pint or 

 half pint splint baskets to the New York market. An- 

 drew M. Hopper, of Pascock, New Jersey, is said to have 

 been the first to market strawberries in crates, about 1840. 

 "These early cases were skeleton cases, some with and 

 some without lids, each grower making them to suit his 

 own convenience for handling; but they generally con- 

 tained from 100 to 200 baskets each. The number of 

 baskets was marked either on the lid or the slats." ^ 



Introduction of the return crate and hox. — The introduc- 

 tion of the Wilson gave a great impetus to strawberry 

 culture and the remarkable expansion of railroads soon 

 after made it possible to grow strawberries at a greater 

 distance from the markets. The modern crate and box 

 package was developed between 1855 and 1870 to meet 

 these new conditions, as none of the packages then in use 

 were suitable for long distance shipping. The Gardeners' 

 Monthly for 1859 says: *'0n one day, 60,000 boxes were 

 shipped from Norfolk and other southern points to Phil- 

 adelphia. The boxes are of thin wood containing a quart 

 each and are put in small chests holding sixty boxes." 

 The sixty-quart crate still is a standard package of the 

 Norfolk district, but at that time the package was re- 

 turnable, each box being stamped "owner's box." 



One of the first to manufacture boxes in large quanti- 

 ties was Hallock, of Queens, New York, who began busi- 

 ness before 1855. In 1862 " Hallock's strawberry boxes " 

 1 Kept. N. J. Hort. Soc, 1877, p. 28. 



