304 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



FEITIT PACKAGES 



THE box is fast coming into popular 

 favor as a suitable package for ship- 

 ping apples in, as well as pears, and 

 many shippers say that the barrel will soon 

 be a thing of the past. However, it will be 

 some time yet before the barrel will be en- 

 tirely superseded. There are several points 

 in favor of the box, and it is, undoubtedly, 

 by far the best package for early and tender 

 fruit ; there is less bulk of the fruit together, 

 and it is, therefore, much easier to keep it at 

 a cool, even temperature. It has plenty of 

 ventilation; there is not so much pressure 

 necessary to keep it tight ; it is a handy pack- 

 age to handle; it is square in shape, and 

 utilizes the space on cars or on vessels to bet- 

 ter advantage. If to be shipped in cold 

 storage, the fruit can be cooled down to the 

 necessary point very quickly, but it takes a 

 long time to get a barrel cooled to the center. 

 In price, there is little difference between the 

 box and the barrel. The raw material has 

 risen in price, so that a god barrel will cost 

 about 35 cents laid down ; what is called the 

 bushel box is laid down for about 12 cents, 

 or 12^^ cents. It takes three boxes to the 

 barrel, so it will be seen that the difference 

 in cost is very slight. 



It is claimed that nothing but the very 

 choicest fruit should be shipped in 

 boxes, so that the fact of the fruit 

 being in boxes would mean that it 

 was of the very best quality, and 

 that no second grade should be boxed. 

 In British Columbia they use boxes almost 

 entirely for shipping their fruit, and their 

 second grade is shipped in boxes as well as 

 the first, and where no barrels are used this 

 must certainly be done, and it is hard to see 

 how it can be avoided, or just why it should 

 not be done, providing it is properly marked 

 and branded as required by law. 



There is as yet no standard fixed as to the 

 size the box should be, and any and every 

 kind and size is being used. Some use the 

 bushel box, so called, holding about one- 

 third of a barrel; others use what is called 

 the 40-lb. box, holding about one-quarter )f 

 a barrel, and for extra fancy stuff, especially 

 pears, which are wrapped in paper, a much 

 smaller package, containing only about two 

 or three dozen fruits. There is a difference 

 of opinion among growers and shippers as 

 to whether there should be a standard fixed, 

 or whether everyone should continue to use 

 the size that suited them best. In the St. 

 Lawrence valley, in the neighborhood of 

 Montreal, they are using what is called the 

 Cochrane case, which is fitted with paste- 

 board squares like an ^^^ case. These are 

 used for choice specimens of Wealthy and 

 Fameuse, and it has been highly profitable. 

 The fruit must be of uniform size to fit the 

 squares, and this matter of uniformity 'n 

 size should be a cardinal point in packing 

 fruit in all kinds of packages. It need not 

 all be large, but the large specimens should 

 be put together. A smaller size can be put 

 up, in which the only difference will be in 

 the size. In all other respects these should 

 be as good as the first, clean and well col- 

 ored; and these will often — in fact, in most 

 cases — bring as much money in the British 

 market as the larger ones; but good judg- 

 ment must be used in the grading, as to uni- 

 formity, cleanliness and color. 



The question of packages for fruit was 

 discussed at the last annual meeting of the 

 Ontario Fruit Growers' Association, at Wal- 

 kerton, but there was such a diversity of 

 opinion as to which was the best size of box 

 to use, that no definite conclusion was ar- 

 rived at. 



However, the matter will come up again, 



