CHAPTER XXIV 

 PACKING 



Which package to use. In recent years there has been a decided 

 tendency among Eastern fruit-growers to make the box the apple 

 package, as is universally done in the West. This has resulted in 

 a vigorous controversy as to the relative merits of the box and 

 the barrel. 



Fastidious people do not care to place on their tables an imper- 

 fect article, and no apple that has been in a barrel is perfect. It is 

 a bruised specimen, although good methods of packing the barrels 

 may prevent bruising somewhat. With the hard winter varieties 

 the bruising is not serious, and with highly colored apples it is not 

 so noticeable, but with both soft and light-colored varieties every 

 bruise becomes an eyesore. The Fameuse, the yellow Bellflower, 

 the Northern Spy, and other tender apples are spoiled by being 

 packed in barrels. 



Added to this is the objection that the barrel is not attractive. 

 With the general trade this is of no importance, but the high-class 

 retailers recognize the sales value of an attractive package. The 

 barrel is the receptacle for the grower who sells his apples in bulk 

 to the commission man, and who does not have the time or the 

 inclination for strict sorting and grading. To such men quantity 

 means money, — the more barrels the more money, — and quality 

 means the throwing away of a large part of their apples and the 

 consequent loss of so much money. The grower who approves of 

 the box idea is one who raises apples that are healthy and well- 

 formed, and who appreciates the possibilities for money-making in 

 catering to the high-class trade. As a rule the "barrel man" does 

 not spray, prune, or cultivate as carefully as does the " box man." 



It is, then, not the intrinsic merits of the packages but the type 

 of orcharding and the variety that really determine which package 

 ought to be used. For the greater part of the apple crop in the 

 East the barrel is the desirable receptacle. 



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