CELERY STORAGE EXPERIMENTS. 17 
ov r er in such a way as to crush the celery in the crates below. Much 
of the loss due to the breakage of the crates and the injury to the 
celery can be obviated by the use of smaller crates. The small crates 
are not so wide, and for this reason are more easily handled. They 
are made of the same material, and as they do not carry as much 
weight as the standard crate, seldom break in handling. 
The average number of stalks of celery per crate in the 25 crates 
of the 14-inch size used in the experiments was 52.2, or 4.35 dozen; 
in the same number of 16-inch crates 61 stalks, or 5.1 dozen ; while the 
average for the standard crate was 84 stalks, or 7 dozen. The com- 
parative cost of the crates needed to hold 1,000 bunches (12,000 
stalks) of celery, based on the capacity of the different-sized crates 
as given above and figured at 18 cents for the standard crate, would 
be about as follows: 
143 standard crates, at 18 cents each $25. 74 
196 16-inch crates, at 17 cents each 33. 32 
230 14-inch crates, at 16 cents each 36. 80 
As already mentioned, the difference in cost in favor of the 
standard crate would be more than offset by the expense of repairing 
them and the loss due to the injury to the celery itself. The ap- 
pearance of the crate often determines the selling price of the celery. 
In other words, one lot of celery in good crates often brings from 50 
cents to $1 more per crate than a similar lot in broken and patched 
crates. The time lost in repacking the celery when the crates are 
very badly broken should also be taken into consideration. 
It might be argued that the storage charges for the small crates 
would be higher in proportion to their capacity than for the standard 
crates. While this might be true, many storage-house managers 
have indicated a willingness to base their charges on cubic capacity. 
Xearly all of the storage-house men interviewed favor the small 
crates, because they are easier to handle, less liable to get broken, and 
keep the celery in better condition. 
Some growers have said that it would be difficult to sell celery in 
small crates because the trade is accustomed to the large crate and 
their prices are based on the latter. While it is true that most of 
the truck-crop celery grown in the North and in California is 
packed in large crates, all of the Florida celery is put up in small 
crates, 10 or 12 inches wide by 24 inches long. That small crates of 
celery are in demand on the market is evidenced by the sale of a car- 
load of celery which included 127 large standard crates (22 by 24 
inches) and 56 small (12-inch) crates. 1 These two lots of celery were 
grown and packed by the same grower, stored in the same room, and 
1 The writer is indebted to Mr. Charles P. Russell, of Williamson, N. Y., for the informa- 
tion in regard to this carload of celery. 
