PACKAGES, TRAINING, POLLINATION 81 



at a fixed price, usually fifteen cents each. This modifi- 

 cation of the gift package idea saved considerable book- 

 keeping. The modern counterpart of the Cincinnati 

 stand is the chest of drawers used in California extensively. 



EVOLUTION OF THE Box AND CRATE PACKAGE 



Thin wooden boxes have been used somewhat from the 

 beginning of commercial strawberry culture in North 

 America. In 1837, boxes of strawberries holding about 

 a quart were quoted on the Boston market. "In 1848," 

 said Charles Cist, "a considerable share of the straw- 

 berries marketed at Cincinnati were sold in tin boxes of a 

 quart each or wooden ones of two quarts each. These 

 usually command a better price, not only on account of 

 more perfect keeping of the article, but also because they 

 measure out more than when berries are filled into the 

 ordinary quart measure." 1 The retailer always re- 

 measured the contents of the boxes, presumably to pro- 

 tect his customer. These boxes, like the baskets and 

 stands, were returnable; the name of the shipper was 

 stamped upon each, and the dealer was supposed to return 

 them when empty. When the berries were sold they 

 were emptied into a paper bag. 



Growers in the Mississippi Valley who used stands 

 could see no value whatever in boxes. In 1866, A. M. 

 Purdy, then of South Bend, Indiana, declared : " We 

 have discarded the use of quart boxes to ship in for a 

 number of reasons. First, shipping, as we do, from 50 

 to 100 bushels a day, it would be impossible to pack the 

 number required properly. Second, they get mislaid and 

 lost. Third, retailers and buyers are not satisfied with 



1 U. S. Patent Office Kept., 1848, p. 610. 

 a 



