PROCEEDINGS OF TWENTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 43- 



amounts allotted them was because the grower was depending on the 

 packer, and the packer depending on the agents, and the agents on the 

 packer, and by the time the wholesaler got the crop there were so many 

 commissions that he could not devote his time to it on account of the 

 commissions having been cut up so much that there was not enough in 

 it for him to devote his time to it. The whole thing lies in the method 

 of distributing the fruit, and until that matter is settled the fruit- 

 grower will be the sufferer. 



MR. RIGHTER. Some years ago a man came from this city to San 

 Jose who said he would teach us something. I asked him if it would 

 make any difference in the number of cars of fruit you sell, whether you 

 give these growers $20 or $30? And he said, "Not a bit of difierence." 

 He said, "If you fellows stand together you can get $30 as well as $20." 

 The expense of selling our fruit through the commission men as we now 

 do costs us $10 where it costs the Southern California Fruit Exchange 

 $1 for the same service. You must have good men at the head of the 

 business in disposing of your products, and if you believe you can get 

 along with a cheap man you are going to fail. Mr. Carnegie said, " It 

 pays you to hire a man who can earn for you one million dollars at a 

 salary of half a million,'' and it will pay the fruit-grower to hire men 

 of ability to conduct the selling of their fruits. And I believe it is your 

 selfishness that prevents you from taking hold of your own business. 



PRESIDENT COOPER. Reports of committees are now in order. 



EEPOET OF COMMITTEE ON FEUIT PAOKAaES. 



The Committee on Fruit Packages submitted the following report: 



To the Chairman and Members of the State Fruit-Growers^ Convention: 



Your Committee on Fruit Packages, appointed at the last annual Fruit-Growers' 

 Convention, respectfully submits the following report : 



Your committee will confine its remarks to packages for cured fruits for domestic 

 and foreign shipment. 



It is very generally conceded that the 25- and 50-pound boxes meet the approval of 

 about nine tenths of all the packers and buyers of cured fruits ; hence, we recommend 

 the adoption of a standard package of the following dimensions for the packing of cured 

 fruits when ready for shipment : 



The inside measurements of a standard 25-pound box should be 5%x9xl53^ inches. 

 The top, bottom, and sides should be made of j% stuff for domestic use and not less 

 than % stuff for export. 



The inside measurements of a 50-pound box should be 93^xl0%xl5>g inches. The 

 top, bottom, and sides should be not less than % of an inch thick, but consider inch 

 stuff preferable. 



Packages for export trade should be made of heavier material than those for 

 domestic use, and the 50-pound package should be proportionately stronger than the 

 25-pound package. 



The wishes of the foreign buyer should be studied, and to that end use a 123^ kilo 

 (27>< lbs.) instead of a 25-pound box, and a 273^ kilo (55 lbs.) instead of a 50-pound box, 

 for French and German shipments of California cured fruits, other than evaporated 

 apples. These have been packed for years in 50-pound boxes throughout the Eastern 

 States, from which point Europe has heretofore drawn her supplies, hence, this style of 

 package is used here. 



