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Fruit and vegetable producers will likely be able to get along 

 with a slightly smaller quantity of wooden containers in 1943 than was the 

 case in 1942. Assuming 1942 packing practices and per-acre production, and 

 the 1943 goals, the total number of board feet of lumber to package the 1943 

 crop v;ill be about 1% less than that required in 1942. This will probably 

 be further reduced through the use of containers of substitute materials 

 and limited shipments of products in bulk. However, these adjustments can- 

 not be sufficient to offset possible shortages of container material and 

 increased container demands for military shipments, and thus avert a tight 

 package situation. 



Used Containers. One method of supplementing the tight fruit and 

 vegetable container situation is by the careful salvaging and reuse of second- 

 hand packages. Every salvaged used container made available for reuse makes 

 a number of contributions to the general supply situation and the war effort. 

 One of these is the fact that this container may package a product which nay, 

 in an acute container situation, not be made available to consumers. Another, 

 the use of the salvaged package will release to other uses labor and equip- 

 ment which would be necessary to make another nev/ box or basket. In addition, 

 it will release such critical materials as wood and metal to be used in 

 other war activities. The salvaging of used containers offers real possi- 

 bilities. For instance, there are enough board feet of wood in 1,000 sal- 

 vaged apple boxes to crate an average airplane for overseas shipment. There 

 is enough metal in 60 wire-bound orange boxes to supply the nails and straps 

 for crating a jeep for overseas shipment. One thousand wire-bound citrus 

 boxes have about 500 pounds of metal. Thus, if a quarter of the 18 million 

 new wire-bound citrus boxes used each year were salvaged and reused, it 

 would release 2,250,000 pounds of metal to be used for such vital war activ- 

 ities as the making of shells, tanks, and guns. This saving also benefits 

 the fruit and vegetable growers as difficulties are being experienced in 

 securing supplies of wire and nails for packages. 



Extensive work is already being done in salvaging used containers 

 in certain large markets. A recent survey by the Viar Production Board in- 

 dicates that .approximately 25^^ of all wooden fruit and vegetable containers 

 v;hich are shipped into Hew York City are salvaged. This varies greatly among 

 the various types of containers, the percentage being very high for such 

 packages as baskets and much lower for nailed boxes. This custom seem^s to 

 be general. Used or second-hand containers are more extensively used by 

 grov/ers in the nearby or market garden area* than in the distant producing 

 districts because of the difficulty and expense of shipping used containers 

 to distant producing centers. Thus, crates, baskets and other packages 

 which are shipped into the large consuming centers are salvaged and sold 

 to growers in the nearby producing districts. Some estimates indicate that 

 as much as GOJo of the vegetables grovm in the Chicago market garden area 

 are marketed in second-hand containers. The proportion, of course < becomes 

 less as the distance from the city increases, but information recently col- 

 lected by Cornell University indicates that grov;ers in some of the interior 

 counties of New York State are depending on used containers for as much as 

 35^ of their total package requirements. 



In the larger cities used containers are collected by a number of 

 agencies. Farmers who live in the nearby districts collect a portion from 



