The Canadian Horticultun^ 



Floral Edition 



)1. XXXIX 



PETERBORO, OCTOBER, 1916 



No. 10 



Small Fruit Packages and Packing' 



C. W. Baxter, Chief Fruit fnspector, Dominion Fruit Division, Ottawa 



'HE ever increasing demand for 

 package goods 'has demonstrated 

 that the public is willing to pay 

 ' ig prices to satisfy its desire for sani- 

 lation. Many of our very ordinary 

 foods, which a few years ago Avere 

 scooped out of a ba'g or bari'el and tied 

 in a paper sack, to-day are scarcely re- 

 cognized in their beautiful lithographed 

 labelled package and trade registered 

 name. It is well known that in many 

 cases the cost of the package and the 

 advertising of the article exceeds one- 

 half of the actual selling price of the 

 goods. 



Whether or not these new conditions 

 have unnecessarily added to the high 

 cost of living is not a question for our 

 consideration at this time, but it proves 

 conclusively that the questdon of pack- 

 ages for all food products is one of 

 great importance and worthy of serious 

 consideration. 



Our fruit standards or grades ap- 

 ply only to fruit when packed in a 



* From an address given at the summer meet- 

 ing: of the Queibec Pomolog-ical Society, held at 

 ■ La Trappe. Sept. 6th and 7th, 1916. 



closed package. This practically means 

 a box or a bari-el. We have, therefore, 

 no legal standards or grades for the 

 marketing oi small fruit. Many grow- 

 ers believe, however, that some such 

 standards or grades are desirable, but 

 not practical. 



During the last two j-ears the ques- 

 tion of .standard fruit packages has 

 been a live one with growers and ship- 

 pers, especially in the Niagara District 

 and in British Columbia. Many resolu- 

 tions have been received by the Domin- 

 ion Fruit Commissioner from repre- 

 sentative bodies of fruit growers 

 throughout Canada, requesting that 

 fruit packages be standardized. Al- 

 though nearly all growers are of the 

 opinion that standardization is needed, 

 there is still a considerable variation of 

 opinion as to what are the best pack- 

 ages to adopt. So keen has this ques- 

 tion become in one of our tender fruit 

 districts that the growei-s are divided 

 into two factions. Realizing that they 

 cannot agree, these growers have asked 

 the department to arbitrate the point at 

 issue. Great care must be exercised, 



therefore, in selecting the packages be- 

 fore asking for legislation. 



Growers in the province of Quebec 

 are interested in all packages used in 

 marketing fruit, especially those which 

 may be used to market strawberries, 

 raspberries, currants, gooseberries, 

 plums and tomatoes, for these are the 

 main crops of small fruits grown. In 

 Eastern Canada the commercial pack- 

 age generally used to market these has 

 been the berry box, and the six and 

 eleven-quart basket. 



Present Requirements. 



Section 326 of the Inspection and Sale 

 Act, Part IX., requires that every box 

 of berries or currants offered for sale, 

 and every berry box manufactured for 

 sale, shall be plainly marked on the side 

 of the box in black letters at least 

 half an inch square with the word 

 "short," unless it contains when level 

 full as nearly exactly as practicable (a) 

 at least four-fifths of a quart, or (b) 

 two-fifths of a quart. This practically 

 means that any box of a size between 

 the two-fifths and the four-fiJBths quarts, 



Some conception of the extent of the operations of Mr. Del Sole, the most extensive Rrower of vegetables on the Island of Montreal, may be obtained 

 from this view of a crop of cauliflower on his farm at Montreal West. As soon as the cauliflower begin to flower, men are Dut through them, who 

 bend the leaves over the flower, completely covering them. The result is that every cauliflower he sells is pure white In color, as well as criSD 



and well developed in form, so that he gets the highest price for It. 



