12, Trout, S. A. Hall, EoyG.,,and. Sykes, SopMc 
1953. Effects of Skin Coatings on the Behavior of Apples in Storage. 
I. Physiological and General Investigations. Austral. Jour. Agr. Res. 
4(1) :57-81. 
13. Werner, J. A., and Kitzke, E. D. 
1958. Waxes: Present and Future, Prod. Mktg. 1(2):14-16. 
SHIPPING CONTAINERS AND CONSUMER PACKAGING al 
Many changes in the packaging of apples have occurred since 1945, both 
in A ee containers and in the use of consumer packages (4, 5, 17, 42, 52, 
ee 
Shipping Containers 
The corrugated or fiberboard carton, used both in storage and in ship- 
ping, gradually displaced the wooden northwestern and eastern boxes, the bushel 
basket, and the returnable crate. In many fruit growing regions of the United 
States, the changeover to corregated cartons was nearly 100 percent by 1960. 
For export, some regions still make wide use of wooden containers (17, 58). The 
search for new or improved containers was brought about by increasing costs of 
box shook, the shortage of good timber, and the need for better product protec- 
tion (1). Various containers in common use for apples were described by Carey 
(12). The corregated carton used with molded pulpboard layer trays has standard 
inside dimensions of 11% x 12 x 20 inches. However, cell-type packaging re- 
quires partition cells and corrugated cartons of a different size and shape for 
each size apple. Duvekot (24) tested various arrangements of apples within 
tray, cell, and layer packs to study the possibility of container standardiza- 
tion. Diagonal packing was more flexible than rectangular arrangements and 
offered more possibility of packing different sizes in the same container, 
There have been several studies of the advantages and disadvantages of 
wood versus corrugated containers (1, 43, 60, 85, 89). The Washington State 
Apple Commission (1) found that corrugated cartons delivered fruit to retailers 
with far less damage than the northwestern box. The carton almost eliminated 
severe bruising, partly because the carton pack had no bulge. The corrugated 
cartons cost less; assembly and lidding labor were less; labeling costs were 
less because cartons were preprinted; freight was saved since cartons weighed 
only half as much as a box; and no box liners were needed. The Commission 
estimated that use of corrugated cartons would save $80 per carload, Jacobsen 
(43) pointed out that cartons can be left folded until needed, so they take less 
storage space than boxes. Unseasoned wood boxes have occasionally damaged un- 
wrapped apples; western red cedar and redwood were reportedly responsible (20). 
An early disadvantage of cartons was that they appeared slack on arrival 
in markets, since they had no crown. Use of tier pads or trays reduced settling 
in cartons. Another disadvantage was that cartons had less stacking strength 
than boxes and were, therefore, less suitable for storage (1, 7, 8). However, 
1/ See also section on Bruise Control. 
2/  Underscored numbers in parentheses refer to Literature Cited, p. 43. 
36 
