/O STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



We need to put our fruit in packages that will suit the market 

 to which it is shipped. There is a demand for three grades of 

 apples at the present time, that the grower will have to meet. 

 The well-to-do, who will pay for a high grade, the common or 

 poor people, who cannot afford the high priced and the canning 

 factories. 



One of the needs of the present time is some system and 

 uniformity, in regard to using boxes for packing our fruit. We 

 are not looking for the easiest way to pack and ship apples, but 

 they way that will bring in the best returns to the grower and at 

 the same time will be more convenient for the consumer. Oh, 

 be content with the barrel system for choice fruit, we are often 

 told. But if all people had been contented, there would never 

 have been any progress. Discontent is the sign of awakening 

 life. It has been said that the rich are not contented. They are 

 trying to better themselves. And why should not the fruit 

 grower do the same, and have a better system for packing fancy 

 fruit? The box system of packing apples is attracting the atten- 

 tion of fruit growers in all parts of the country and it is my 

 effort to awaken an interest here in Maine that will lead to the 

 adoption of a standard size for a Maine fruit box. 



The box should be uniform in size that is used everywhere so 

 that the buyer may know what a box of apples is, as well as he 

 knows the barrel. As it is today, the buyer does not know the 

 quantity that a box contains. Why does not the orange grower 

 ship his oranges in barrels and different sized boxes? 



If a trader here in Canton wants a box of oranges, when send- 

 ing to Portland or any other market, he knows just what he is 

 buying in size and the grade he wants. And at the same time 

 when a trader in any other part of the country wants a box of 

 oranges he knows just what he is buying too. He is getting the 

 same size there as the trader is here. 



Now, why should not we, here in Maine, pack our apples in 

 such a manner, that a trader in any part of the world who buys a 

 box of Maine apples, will know that he is getting just what he 

 orders? The same size in Maine or California. 



Why is it that the commission men of Boston, prefer the barrel 

 to the box ? It is because there is no system in packing in the 

 box. We have got to make progress and see if we cannot have 

 a uniform box or package for apples, as we now have the orange 

 or lemon box. 



