APPLES 



369 



the interstioe is going to fit down closer 

 into it. and that there will be no less 

 weight to the box. Some of them further 

 state that the loosel.v packed box will be 

 handled with the fewer bruises. Still the 

 fact remains, so the others would affirm, 

 that the tight pack makes a better impres- 

 sion upon the trade. 



>'eatiiess 



"So precise have many farmers and 

 dealers become in their estimation of the 

 nature and value of consumers' fancies, 

 that they analyze them and translate them 

 into sense impressions, and give nu- 

 merical weight to these impressions more 

 accurately than they could guess the 

 weight of a hog or the number of bushels 

 in a corncrib. 



"The growing, the preparing, and the 

 marketing of many of the products of the 

 farm are becoming questions of art and 

 psychologj'. Less do people eat to live 

 than they live to eat, and yet when they 

 buy food, they buy it often not primarily 

 for the gratification of taste, but upon the 

 testimony of the eye, which is pleased 

 with form and color, and upon the per- 

 ception of odor, while, if the consumer 

 were reared in the countr.v, perhaps his 

 choice is determined by the farm-bred 

 fancies of a happy youth. 



"What set of nerves shall have the 

 preference in determining the purchase 

 of a farm product, the optic or the 

 gustatory? Shall a thing be pretty, or 

 delicious; and, since the sense of smell 

 must also be consulted in some cases, is 

 it of much consequence whether it is 

 pretty or delicious? The seller has much 

 more definite information with regard 

 to these questions than the consumer: 

 although it is the consumer who makes 

 the choice, he is induced to do so by the 

 seller's subtle knowledge of his fancies, 

 which need not be and often are not 

 either sensible or reasonable, but. on the 

 other hand, often verge upon the notional, 

 and seem superfluous to an unsophisticat- 

 ed farmer."* 



* "Consumers' Fancies." Geo. K. Holmes. 

 Yearbook of Department of Agriculture. 

 1004. 



With the above statements as a founda- 

 tion, if the grower or packer will but stop 

 to reflect upon his own observations and 

 experience, further argument is unneces- 

 sary to establish in his mind the de- 

 sirability of a neat apple package. Mr. 

 Carl W. Kimball, president of the Na- 

 tional League of Commission Merchants, 

 states that he regards neatness, together 

 with firmness, as the most important re- 

 quirements of a good pack. The points 

 to be looked to are a clean, bright box, 

 careful nailing, orderly stamping, a tasty 

 label, smooth wrap, with no rough edges 

 of the paper showing, and a true align- 

 ment. A good alignment depends on the 

 equal spacing of the apples touching the 

 lower head of the box in any layer, on 

 keeping the stem end of the apples point- 

 ing straight toward the end of the box, 

 and on uniformity of size. 



P.VtKING HOUSE MANAGEMENT 



For the apple product of a section to 

 gain favor in the markets of the country 

 and then retain it, first a standard of 

 grade and pack for the product must be 

 established, and second this standard 

 must be uniformly maintained. It has 

 been comparatively easy for the apple dis- 

 tricts of the Northwest to formulate rules 

 covering the various grades, but difficult 

 for them to maintain any standard uni- 

 formly. This has been due partly to the 

 increase in the number of persons en- 

 gaged in the industry beyond the power 

 of the older growers to instruct the new- 

 comers as to definitions and methods. 

 There has also been the danger that the 

 faulty output of the indifferent and dis- 

 honest would act to annul the efforts of 

 the painstaking and conscientious and 

 give the whole producing district a bad 

 name. This condition, in fact, did evolve 

 in some instances. In one case a certain 

 house, which any man would be proud to 

 say handles his product, was driven per- 

 manently from a certain district by the 

 extreme carelessness or flagrant dis- 

 honesty of a single grower in putting 

 up the pack of one season. A member 

 of the firm stated that they could not af- 

 ford to do business in a community 

 which tolerated such practices. 



