330 
ends and keep them from wabbling. First 
one side board is nailed to the ends, then 
the bottom, then the other sides. If the 
box cleats split in nailing, they can be 
soaked in water previous to using. A 
nail stripper is a necessity. It will cost 
petween $4 and $5. One of rather poor 
make can be seen attached to the box 
press in Fig. 26. A new self-feeding 
stripper is on the market at $6, its auto- 
matic feed resulting from the jar of 
the bench to which the stripper is at- 
tached as the nailer pounds. An ex- 
perienced nailer can make 40 boxes an 
hour. One cent a box is usually paid 
for making. 
Barrel Versus Box 
The barrel and the box are the two 
packages suitable for use in long distance 
shipments and in storage. The barrel is 
distinctively an Eastern package, and the 
box a Western. One reason for this is 
that hard wood suitable for making the 
barrel has been cheaper in the Hast, and 
soft box wood cheaper in the West. The 
Western growers have also been forced 
to put out a package more uniform in 
quality and size of fruit, in order to com- 
pete with Eastern growers in Eastern 
markets, under the disadvantage of higher 
transportation charges, and this end has 
been more readily gained by the use of 
the box. 
For the Barrel 
The barrel, however, has some advan- 
tages over the box as a package for apples. 
It can be packed well with less skill, and 
more rapidly. It can be handled more 
easily, by rolling, than any other package 
for equal bulk. Until recently it has been 
a cheap package; although “it now costs 
most fruit growers from 30 to 40 cents 
instead of 15 to 30 as formerly.” Also, 
“many varieties export better in the tight 
barrel, not permitting entrance of salt air 
into the package.’’* 
For the Box 
The advantages of the box are: first, 
that its small size is more suitable for 
use aS a carrier for some soft varieties 
Aarons 
porte WV Bailey, See sy of Tinos. in Re- 
0 Inois State Horticu S 
POLO. °° Thid. culture Society, 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
of apples; because when so many are 
placed together as in a barrel, they will, 
when they mellow, bruise from their own 
weight. Second, “the box holds a more 
convenient quantity of fruit for the ‘ulti. 
mate consumer,’” being especially adapt- 
ed to the use of “the average city person 
who wishes to buy only such a quantity 
of fruit as will keep at the ordinary tem- 
perature of the home, while it is being 
used.”° Third, the smallness of its size 
in itself induces the customer to believe 
that the quality of the contents is such 
as to make up in value any lack of 
quantity. Fourth, it is better adapted 
for use as a display package. Dress 
an apple box with a white lining on its 
inside and lithographs on its ends, tak- 
ing care that the others of its whitewood 
surfaces are smooth and spotless; then 
note the result. A barrel at an apple 
show—an extreme case, to be sure—looks 
incongruous. Also, the use of the box 
practically forces a uniform size and at- 
tractive arrangement of the apples them- 
selves, and renders easy the securing of 
an intense effect of color by the oppor- 
tunity afforded for massing the boxes 
solidly. 
Question of Economy 
After all, however, the matter of wheth- 
er it is better to use boxes or barrels, will 
have to be decided by considering the eco- 
nomic conditions in the locality of the 
producer and the standards and possibil- 
ities of the market to which the apples 
are sent. “The barrel has been the stand- 
ard and practically the only package for 
winter apples for over half a century.” 
The objections to the use of the box in 
the East, besides that of cost, are’ “The 
average [Eastern] grower cannot grow a 
crop of fruit of high quality varieties 
yielding around 90 per cent ‘Fancy,’ or 
No. 1. Skillful and experienced packers 
are not obtained in these sections. Scarce- 
ly any grower is able to put a large 
quantity of box fruit on the market 
year after year, thus establishing a 
reputation for his brand. The average 
market does not take kindly to the 
Eastern packed box. (I think they are 
becoming educated.)” On the other 
hand, it can be said that the use of the 
