330 The Commercial Apple Industry 



standard grades. These rules are intended to act as a 

 standard of measure, whereby the buyer may judge the 

 character and the contents of the closed package of apples. 

 In other words, the label on the package of apples is to 

 be made to tell the truth. The difficulties of promulgating 

 a set of rules which will please every one or even a major- 

 ity is at the outset a difficult problem. Furthermore, once 

 promulgated it is exceedingly difficult to secure the enforce- 

 ment of such a set of rules. 



Standard package. 



Obviously the first step in standardization is the estab- 

 lishment of uniform packages. This has already been 

 effected to a great extent by the adoption of the dual stand- 

 ard, i. e. the standard barrel and the standard box. Per- 

 sons are accustomed to think of commercial apples in 

 terms of barrels and boxes. In a geographic way, line of 

 distinction between barrel apple-producing areas and box 

 apple-producing areas has been closely drawn. For Col- 

 orado and states west, the box is the almost exclusive pack- 

 age, while for the eastern and middle western apple crop 

 the barrel is almost exclusively used. 



From time to time different packages have been intro- 

 duced, but their popularity has been more or less tempor- 

 ary. Various crates have been recommended for western 

 low-grade apples and in certain seasons a considerable 

 portion of the New York crop has moved out in bushel 

 baskets. The five-eighths-bushel hamper is very popular 

 in the early apple regions of New Jersey and Delaware. 

 In many ways the smaller package enjoys a distinct advant- 

 age, and while the barrel will probably remain the stand- 

 ard package for eastern and middle western apples, it is 



