METHO'bS OF MARKETING. 



17 



a solid piece of light wood, fastened at either end 

 with a wire or piece of tin, as the case may be. 



It is interesting to note in this connev^tion how 

 sharply the commercial world are learning to look 

 after the waste. Some of these grape baskets have 

 the cover fastened to the basket by a strip of tin 

 which is tacked to the cover and bent over so that 

 the end catches at the nnder side of the hoop 

 which goes around the top of the basket. This 

 makes a fastening at once secure, yet one that may 

 be easily loosened when necessary. It is easy to 

 see that these fastenings are made from waste 

 pieces of tin, so small that they cannot be well used 

 by the manufacturer who makes the waste, yet they 

 come into play in this connection to great advantage. 



The illustration, figure 3, shows the stj'le of 

 grape basket now in almost universal use for native 

 grapes shipped to the New York market. While we 

 will treat more fully the question of marking pack- 

 ages, it is plain to see that grape growers and 

 packers are more progressive in this respect than 

 others, and we will touch on the subject just here 

 for a moment. In a thorough search of the mark- 

 ets of New York we failed to find a single basket of 

 first class grapes but what had the name of the 

 variety marked plainly on the basket. By far the 

 larger portion were not :<nly so marked, but in ad- 

 dition bore the grower's name and address in a con- 

 spicuous position. 



This is encouraging, showing as it does a dispo- 

 sition to advance with the rest of the world. Of 

 course it will be understood that to the force of 

 competition is largely due this reform, for it forces 

 the grower to raise, pack and ship a superior (|ual- 

 ity of produce in order that his name may be a 

 guarantee of value. It may be considered a general 

 principle in the fruit business that the grower who 

 takes pains to mark the packages with his name 

 and address, does so believing that his packages 

 contain a superior ardcle with which he desires the 

 consumer to become familiar. 



The question of packages is an important one, 

 yet so wide in its scope and so dependent on the 

 grower and shipper moi'e than as anyone else, that 

 it is impossible to much more than generalize on 

 the subject. Still, the necessity of reform is most 

 important. 



Said a prominent New York commission man to 

 the writer: " A United States law determining the 

 size of packages for different fruits would be a 

 blessing to dealers and consumers. A dealer at 

 present is compelled to buy a package and weigh or 

 measure the contents before he can judge at what 

 price he should sell them." 



"Once peaches were all sent to market in a 

 basket holding f of a bushel; now they come in all 

 sorts of packages from a barrel to a grape basket. 



"The strawberry producer has succeeded in 

 maintaining an honest cjuart, pint and third, but 

 the ' side-walk venders' buy a basket holding about 

 I of a quart and retail from this, giving the pur- 

 chaser the basket rather than running the chances 

 of letting him see how few berries he has received 

 for the money. 



" There has been a change for the better in the 

 grape packages. The shipper in the interior of the 

 state makes use of 5 and 10-pound baskets, which 



HKOl'll. LOSS. 



go with the fruit. Growers in the counties along 

 the Hudson river use a package called the 'gift 

 crate.' This is a light skeleton case containing 8 

 small baskets in two tiers. The baskets are sold 

 with the fruit and only the weight of the case de- 

 ducted." 



The case last mentioned is patterned after the 

 California grape case described and illustrated last 

 month. We have mentioned the majority of the 

 " standard " packages used in the New "i'ork mark- 

 ets. Other fruits not referred to are usually sent 

 in the same packages as those already described. 

 For example, choice currants come in quart straw - 

 berry baskets. Inferior fruit, being used more for 

 preserving, is shipped in any box or crate which is 

 returnable : this last grade of fruit is sold by the 

 pound. 



Cherries are sent in lo-lb. grape baskets. Choice 

 plums are marketed in quart baskets and 5-lb. grape 

 baskets ; the inferior kinds in kegs and half-barrels. 

 Cranberries are received in quarts, grape baskets, 

 bushel boxes and barrels. Gooseberries are usually 

 marketed in quart berry boxes. 



Vegetables come in all kinds of shapes. We see 

 potatoes in barrels, boxes, baskets and bags ; peas 

 in the same sort of packages ; onions generally in 

 crates ; beets, carrots, turnips and other root crops 

 in boxes snd barrels. Naturally, large quantities 

 of vegetables are brought to the markets of New 

 York on wagons, and in such cases they are usually 

 transferred to the most convenient package at the 

 command of the dealer. 



