132 HORTICULTURE, FORESTRY, FLORICULTURE 



juries of these types are not only difficult to detect but offer ideal 

 conditions for the starting of decay. Many fruits are injured by 

 scratches made by the finger nails of pickers and packers. The care- 

 fully handled fruits have a great market advantage aside from their 

 better and sounder condition, in that they are in fit shape to be re- 

 shipped from large centers to smaller surrounding towns, thus allow- 

 ing a much wider distribution and extension of the market. The im- 

 portance of this fact can best be appreciated when considered in con- 

 nection with the problems of overproduction and the possibilities of 

 increasing the sale and use of the fruit. As long as the commercial 

 packs continue to arrive at or near the limit of decay commercially 

 allowable, the possibilities of reshipment are extremely limited, and 

 the market for the fruit is cut down accordingly. (Y. B. 1909.) 



Packing. Containers for fruits are many and varied, and the 

 shipper should be familiar with them all. In some of the older fruit 

 sections it is customary to have the boxes for small fruits returned to 

 the packer. This is a poor practice, as it results in the use of un- 

 sightly packages which affect the appearance and injure the sale of 

 the fruit. The common experience of the best fruit growers is in 

 favor of the gift package for general marketing. For distant ship- 

 ments the return package is out of the question. The various pack- 

 ages used in shipping fruits, with their dimensions and costs, are 

 given in the following table from Waugh : 



Fruit. 



Package. 



Cost. 



Apple 



Peach 



Pear , 



Plum and grape, 



Cherry 



Quince 



Barrel, 100 quarts or 3 bushels 



Box, various sizes 



Slat crate, mostly half bushel 



; Basket, mostly bushel 



Delaware basket 



Michigan basket, 1/5 bushel 



-Six-basket carrier 



Barrel, 3 bushels 



Half barrel, 1% bushels 



^Boxes and baskets, various kinds. . 



Grape basket, 10 pounds 



Six-basket carrier 



Strawberry quart boxes and crates. 



1 5-pound grape baskets . . . 

 'Slat crate, 1/3 bushel... 



Slat crate, % bushel : 



Slat crate, 1 bushel 



Baskets in various styles. 



Also barrels 



'Quart boxes in crates 



Berries 



24-quart cases with boxes, gift. 

 24-pint cases with boxes, gift . . . 



$25 per 100. 



Variable. 



$4.50 per 100. 



$1 to $1.25 per dozen. 



$2 to $3 per 100. 



$3 per 100. 



$7 to $10 per 100. 



$25 per 100. 



$15 to $20 per 100. 



$2.50 per 100. 



$7 to $10 per 100. 



Quart boxes, $2 to $3 per 



1,000; 16-quart crates, $5 



to $6 per 100. 

 $3 per 100. 

 $4.50 per 100. 

 $7 per 100. 



Quart boxes, $2 to $3 per 

 1,000; 16-quart crates, $5 

 to $6 per 100; 24-quart 

 crates, $7 to $15 per 100. 



$0.16 to $0.18 each. 



$0.14 to $0.16 each. 



(U. S. E. S. B. 178.) 



