9 o THE BOOK OF MARKET GARDENING 



source of annoyance and expense ; when non-returnable 

 this is not important. 



Convenient as boxes unquestionably are, and much as 

 there is in their favour, they must be mainly relied upon 

 for direct conveyance to consumers or retailers, at all 

 events for the present. Salesmen in general have a 

 prejudice against dealing with British garden produce in 

 boxes, although so large a part of their business is 

 founded upon imported fruits in similar packages. We 

 have repeatedly endeavoured to induce salesmen to take 

 first-class fruits in boxes and have always been met with 

 objections. If they have taken them it has been almost 

 under protest, and with a " don't blame me for results" 

 kind of expression that has not been encouraging. Not- 

 withstanding this, however, when genuine efforts have 

 been made to give them a fair trial, well-selected, graded 

 fruits have yielded much better returns than similar fruits 

 sent in baskets in the ordinary way, and that is what 

 concerns the grower. One experienced salesman in a 

 northern market assured us that he has had to turn pro- 

 duce out of boxes into baskets to enable him to secure a 

 sale for fruits as British grown. He says the custom is 

 so general, and so firmly established, to regard fruits in 

 boxes as of foreign origin, that he failed to convince 

 his customers to the contrary. There is no reason why 

 such prejudice should prevail, and properly branding the 

 boxes would remove the difficulty. We have abundant 

 proof that the demand for boxes is extending, and if 

 salesmen do not awaken to the fact they will find that 

 increased facilities for direct communication with the 

 consumers, and the development of co-operation amongst 

 producers, will eventually deprive them of part of their 

 business. 



Card-board boxes of excellent design are now manu- 

 factured in great numbers for art flowers and florists' 

 productions; they are light and strong, being well 



