The Canadian Horticulturi^ 



Vol. XXXV 



OCTOBER, 1912 



No. 10 



The Box Packing of Apples 



Ralph S. Elaton, President and Manager, Hillcrest Orchards Limited, Kentville, N. S. 



R. S. Eaton 



THREE essentials are required in se- 

 curing good results in the packing 

 of apples in boxes, — good fruit, 

 good boxes and a good and economical 

 arrangement of the fruit. I need not re- 

 refer to the 

 first point, oth- 

 er than to say 

 that unless a 

 fruit grower 

 has clean, well- 

 colored, good- 

 sized fruit for 

 the variety, he 

 should not use 

 boxes at all. 



With regard 

 to the box, 

 mention of a 

 few points that 

 I have not seen 

 referred to in 

 the many ex- 

 cellent fruit journals of Canada, and the 

 United States may be worth while to the 

 inexperienced. Though a box should not 

 have rough handling, it should be strong 

 enough to stand a bit of it, in case it 

 falls into careless hands The part most 

 likely to give way is the end of the box. 

 This should be made of spruce or of 

 wood equally strong. It should be in 

 one piece and not less than three-quar- 

 ters to seven-eighths of an inch thick. 

 If the manufacturer for cheapness in 

 material prefers to use two pieces for 

 the ends, they should be fastened toge- 

 ther strongly with staples or douls that 

 will make the end practically as strong 

 as though in one piece. If when making 

 the boxes an end is discovered to be 

 weak, it should be cleated on the inside 

 with two narrow thin cleats close to the 

 edges. To cleat on the outside of the 

 box or to wrap the box with wire dis- 

 figures the package and should not be 

 considered for a moment. The sides 

 should be three-eighths to seven-six- 

 teenths of an inch thick, and if in two 

 pieces they should be grooved and 

 longued. The tops and bottoms should 

 be one-quarter to one-third of an inch 

 thick and in one or two pieces. Both 

 ends and tops should be of good strong 

 wood, not white pine. 



I would insist upon all the wood being 

 I'Janed on the outside. It is claimed by 

 sijj.te western packers that their wood 

 sawn by fine saws makes a very neat 

 box unplaned, but though I have observ- 



ed a number of their exhibition packages 

 and had samples sent me, yet I have 

 never seen a real neat box from there. 



THE MARKING 



I would recommend strongly that one 

 end of each box should have the grade 

 and variety of apples, with the name of 

 the grower or packer neatly printed on 

 it. At the top should be the word "tiers" 

 at one side and the word "apples" at the 

 other, with a dotted line or blank space 

 in front of each word for the number of 

 tiers and apples to be marked by the 

 person packing or branding the box. 

 The printing of the end can easily be 

 done in two colors which will add much 

 to the effect. The material for a box 

 as described can be put up in shook form 

 in St. John, N.B., for twelve and a half 

 to thirteen cents. The other end should 

 have a neat label. Good taste applied 

 in selecting from the samples of a litho- 

 graph printer should result in something 

 that would add very materially to the 

 appearance and value of the package. 

 .Stencilling the ends should not l>e con- 

 sidered for a moment in comparison with 

 the label and printing. The label should 

 be about the size of the end piece, ten 

 by 'eleven inches, and should not cover 

 the whole end of the box when made up. 



If the ends and sides of the box are 

 both in two pieces it is desirable, even 

 if the end is stapled, to make the sifles 

 break joints with the ends when nailing. 

 Thus the strength of the wider side 

 pieces may be added to that of the 

 staples in strengthening the end. 



It has often been claimed that the cost 

 of making the box up is about one to 

 one and a half cents. I have found, 

 however, that lads paid seventy to eighty 

 cents a day can make from one hundred 

 to one hundred and twenty boxes in ten 

 hours. 



If care is taken, when nailing, to have 

 the sides and tops come just flush with 

 the end pieces, and the side and ends of 

 the cleats on the tops just flush, the 

 sawed ends of the sides, tops and cleats 

 can be quickly and easily smoothed with 

 coarse sand paper and the completed 

 box have a thorough clean and tidy ap- 

 pearance. 



PACKING 



Though a great many different packs 

 or ways of placing the apples in a box 

 have been illustrated in magazines, we 

 have found at Hillcrest that a three-two 

 or a three-four pack, according to size 

 of apples, will suit the fancy and num- 

 ber one grades of about all varieties of 



Packing Room of The Hillcrest Orchards, Limited, at the Noon Hour 



229 



