FRUIT NOTES - April, 193g 



W. H. Thles 

 Extension Horticulturist 



"In Those D ays " 



V/e are indebted to W. E. Piper of the Division of Mar- 

 kets for the following story which indica.tes the present day 

 package situation on the Boston Market. 



Not all that goes on in "busy city wholesale farm produce 

 markets is hard boiled give-and-take. Beneath the surface there 

 lurks a strong sentimental feeling that often crops go ud when 

 market men get in a reminiscent mood. Such was very much the case 

 in Boston's famed Faneuil Hall Market one early afternoon last 

 week when someone happened to mention barreled apriles. 



"Barreled apples," chirruped an old timer, "Barreled 

 apples from Maine with split hoops and home-made liners. Those 

 vrere the days, — barreled aoples off the Bangor boat." 



"Many's the day," he reminisced, "when I've seen a 

 half-dozen wagon loads ha.uled into the market -from the wharf, 

 backed up to the curb on North Market Street. " 



"Yes sir," interrupted another veteran joining the 

 group. "Remember Henry Stevens on top of the load cracking 'em 

 open I'ath his hatchet." 



"Hatchet.'" broke in a bystander. "That reminds me. 

 How long has it been since I've seen a. hatchet? No"^ it's nothing 

 but box orieners, little dinky box openers. Toy tools I call 'em. 

 Now the hatchet ^"as a man's weapon." 



"Sure it was," resumed the old timer, "and not only 

 that, the hatchet was a badge of office. In those days w^-.en a. 

 man left a concern to go to work for somebody else, he didn't 

 resign, he just turned in his hatchet." 



"And the barrel, too," he went on. "That T-as a man's 

 package. Wlien you got hold of a barrel you had hold of something. 

 And apnles, all kinds of apples, Nodheads, Wolf Rivers, Ribston 

 Pippins and what not." 



"'And what not' is right," remarked another member of 

 the group, wagging his head in recollection. "Eighteen barrels 

 and, like as not, seventeen different kinds." 



"You'll never see the likes of it again," yearned the 

 old timer, '"f.iose days are over. Come to think of it that may 

 be what's wrong with the business. Maybe if we could get back 

 to the old times, things would be better. Maybe what we need 

 is for people to buy 'em like they used to, when they had a bar- 

 rel of apples in every cellar. " 



And as the impromptu meeting broke up there was a gen- 

 eral agreement tha.t, while there will always be pros and cons on 



Issued by the Extension Service, Willard A. Munson, director 

 in furtherance of Acts of May S and June 30, 1^1^. Massachusetts 

 State College, United States Department of Agriculture, and 

 County Extension Services cooperating. 



