state; pomological society. 53 



lining the boxes with a Hght tinted paper which set the fruit off 

 effectively. 



The ideal box is about as wide as it is deep and about twice as 

 long as wide. A flat broad box shows the fruit off advantage- 

 ously but it is objectionable in that too many fruits are bruised 

 in putting on the cover. I have had some experience this year 

 in the cold storage work of the Department of Agriculture with 

 a pear box used in western New York. This box is made of 

 ^8 inch stuff for the ends and ^ inch for the sides and tops. It 

 is 17 inches long, 16 inches wide, and 7 inches deep. I found 

 this box very objectionable. It is too shallow to take three layers 

 of good size apples or pears and there is too much fruit surface 

 exposed for bruising when the head is nailed on. I had to fill 

 these boxes from the narrow sides. 



The box used in Missouri holds a full bushel, while this New 

 York box holds but seven-eights of a bushel. 



The Californians are using boxes extensively for their apples. 

 Only last year the Pajaro valley shipped 1,000 cars of apples, 

 of which 220 cars of Yellow Newtowns were sent to Europe. 

 The box is the coming package for the finer apples and I would 

 advise the Maine apple growers to give the matter serious 

 attention. 



One word about fruit wrappers. I had occasion to examine 

 a lot of LeConte and Duchess pears in cold storage the day I 

 left Washington. Part of the fruit of each variety was wrapped 

 in a thin tissue paper, and an equal part was left unwrapped. 

 The fruit had been in storage more than a month, having been 

 picked and stored at the same time. The difference between the 

 wrapped and unwrapped fruit was striking. The wrapped fruit 

 was hard and bright, the unwrapped showed a distinct shrinkage, 

 the fruit was not firm, and it had lost its bright glossy appear- 

 ance. While we are not now prepared to say very much about 

 the practice of wrapping, it looks as though it paid well to wrap 

 the finest kinds of fruit either for the immediate market or for 

 cold storage. (Figures were here given to show the value of 

 wrapped P>artletts in comparison with unwrapped Bartletts in 

 the London market. The wrapped fruit whether in barrels, 

 boxes, or half boxes sold considerably above the unwrapped 

 Bartletts.) The Department of Agriculture has this question 

 under experimental study this year. It is using tissue, parch- 



