148 Strawberry-Growing 



Hallock or Leslie boxes can be made up by hand for about 

 seventy-five cents a thousand. Hallock quart boxes in 

 the flat weigh 125 pounds a thousand ; they are crated in 

 bundles of 500 each. Hallock crates weigh about five 

 pounds each. It takes a little over one pound of two 

 ounce tacks, costing twenty-five cents, to make 1000 boxes. 

 A magnetic hammer, costing twenty cents, is useful. The 

 forms on which to tack the boxes cost fifteen to twenty-five 

 cents. 



The Hallock box is made of two pieces of veneering, 

 scored to bend at the corners. The band is bent inward 

 at the groove marks, wrapped around the bottom, and 

 tacked, the short end making the outside lap. Bands cut 

 with fine score marks instead of grooves should be bent 

 outward, away from the score marks. Four tacks should 

 be used on the lap side, two through the lap and two near 

 the corners; also two or three on the opposite side. If 

 the veneer becomes very dry, so that it cracks, it should be 

 dampened. A boy or girl can make 1000 to 1500 boxes 

 a day by hand. One person can put up 4000 to 6000 

 boxes a day with a stapling machine ; stapled boxes are 

 stronger than tacked boxes (Plate XIII) . These machines 

 cost about $40, when operated with steam power, and $16 

 to $20 when operated with foot power. They feed the 

 wire, form the staple, drive and clinch it with one stroke 

 of the foot pedal. Wire costs less than tacks ; a coil of 

 stapling wire costing eighty cents will make 10,000 to 

 12,000 boxes. 



One man can make up 150 to 200 Leslie or Hallock crates 

 a day at a cost of about one cent each. Crate forms can 

 be made at home or can be bought for $1.25 each. F. E. 

 Beatty gives the following directions for making the form 

 shown in Fig. 10. "Take a plank two inches thick, six- 



