ACCOUNTING FOR FRUIT SHIPPING ORGANIZATIONS. 5 
that all supplies for use in the packing house, warehouse, or office be 
bought only on written authority, in order to guard against indis- 
criminate buying on the part of employees and to establish a record 
in the office as to the liability which has been incurred. 
THE BOX MEMORANDUM. 
The use of shipping boxes in the orchards for picking purposes in 
place of picking or “‘lug”’ boxes is very general, although some ‘“‘lug”’ 
boxes are used in nearly all of the districts, and the introduction of 
the community packing scheme has presented another problem, that 
of giving the growers proper credit for the number of boxes delivered 
by them which contain loose fruit for packing and of charging them 
with the number of empty boxes and boxes containing culls returned 
to them from the packing house. 
The initial sales of box shooks or boxes to the growers must be 
recorded on the charge ticket (Form 1) in order that the transfer of 
these assets can be recorded properly and the indebtedness of the 
growers shown on account of these sales. The loose-fruit receipt 
(Form 9) acts in the dual capacity of a receipt for the fruit and for 
the boxes as well. Approximately 70 per cent of the boxes are 
used in packing out the fruit, leaving the balance to be returned to 
the growers. The box memorandum (Form 4) is used for recording 
the number of empty boxes and boxes of culls returned to the growers. 
THE BOX REGISTER. 
A separate account is opened with each grower in the box register 
(Form. 5) to record the number of boxes containing loose fruit de- 
livered by him to the packing house and the number of empty boxes, 
or boxes containing culls, withdrawn by him. Columns have been 
provided for segregating new and old shipping boxes. The form is 
made in duplicate. The originals are used as statements to be sent 
to the growers and the duplicates are retained in the files. 
THE CROP ESTIMATE. 
An accurate estimate of each grower’s tonnage, by varieties, is an 
invaluable guide to the sales manager in planning a selling campaign 
and in the booking of orders prior to the harvest season. The value 
of the figures depends entirely upon the accuracy of the estimates. 
In districts where the inspection service is so organized that inspec- 
tors, trained in the matter of estimating the crop on the trees, can 
perform this service or verify the growers’ individual estimates, the 
figures will be dependable and of great value as a means of forecast- 
ing the season’s production. After the first estimate, constant 
revision of the figures must be made, taking into account the weather 
and crop conditions. Form 6 is used for returning this information 
to the office. 
