128 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



President Gulley referred to the proper construction of 

 the box and that the sides should be elastic enough to allow 

 of some spring after the fruit is packed. 



Mr. Hale: Mr. President, I think the matter which you 

 refer to, of the spring of the boxes being an advantage, is one 

 in which there are a good many disadvantages. Where you 

 have a package that is absolutely rigid, you have got to use 

 thicker material, and that increases the cost. The only reason 

 that they are made so light is because the timber is a big item 

 of expense, and every sixteenth of an inch that they can shave 

 off the side, making it thinner, gives you so much reduction 

 in price. The big element in the cost is not the manufacture 

 of the box, but it's the timber. In making up the cost, with 

 the modern machinery that we have nowadays, they can rip 

 up the lumber and slash it up into form with wonderful rapid- 

 ity and accuracy. It's not that that costs. The question of 

 cost comes in in the lumber. If you don't want to pay for 

 anything but a spring box, and want to save on the lumber, 

 you can get it, of course, but it will always be a better pack- 

 age, and carry your fruit better, if the lumber is just a little 

 thicker. 



The President : As to that matter of cost. I was getting 

 some boxes this summer, and they were willing to send me 

 the boxes all made up, but they would not send me the flats. 

 We have to haul the boxes that we buy for use up to the 

 college, about three miles from the railroad station, and it is 

 a good deal more convenient to carry the flats. They were 

 not willing to let me have them in the flat a bit cheaper. 



Mr. Wells : Mr. President, I want to add one more word 

 to this discussion on the box question. I think it is absolutely 

 necessary, in shipping away our fruit, to have two sides of the 

 box so it will not spring to any amount. I think they should 

 be made of fairly rigid material. The other two ends can be 

 made of thinner material, so that they can give and take, but 

 the boxes should be so made that the pressure will not all come 

 on the top. The box makers that I deal with make a box that 

 has a little thin strip nailed on the end. so as to prevent it 

 from rubbinsf asfainst the fruit. Two sides of the box cer- 



