MARKETING BARRELED APPLES 25 
highest color and finish, but a few growers shipping to Boston, New 
York, Chicago, and other markets have succeeded in obtaining top 
Mis The McIntosh is one of the varieties which as grown in the 
est managed orchards, takes on a high finish in the eastern climate 
and in limited quantity has been marketed successfully in boxes. 
Many of the leading eastern varieties are not especially suitable for 
standard boxed ele trade or for one reason or another are not well 
adapted for the boxed pack, and there is a general scarcity of skilled 
ackers and of equipment necessary for satisfactory handling. The 
fact that the East has suitable material for barrel shook, while the 
West has not, is one of the primary reasons for the two types of 
packages, as is the case with packages for many other agricultural 
products. 
During the 1922 and 1923 seasons considerable boxed Michigan 
stock, mostly Baldwin, Northern Spy, McIntosh, and Fameuse, 
packed western style, was placed on the Chicago market. The grading 
and packing appeared comparable to that of the standard boxed- 
apple shipping States. A cooperative association in Door County, 
Wis., shipped McIntosh in boxes in 1923. Eastern markets have 
received a few carloads of boxed Jonathan, Yellow Newtown, and 
Winesap from Virginia and Maryland; Gravenstein, Delicious, and 
Winter Banana from Georgia; and McIntosh and other kinds from 
New York and New England. Many of the eastern boxed apples 
are put up according to standard western boxed-apple grades. ‘The 
western “‘ Combination Fancy and Extra Fancy” is boxed on consider- 
able quantities in the southeastern apple region. 
The square, shallow eastern market box holding 1 bushel is used 
extensively in handling the local stock in Boston and for cold storage 
of winter fruit from orchards within trucking distance. The fruit is 
mostly orchard run, culls out, packed loosely, and the contents slightly 
heaped, and usually protected for storage and handling by nailing 
cross pieces over the top, sometimes with corrugated paper board 
under the cross pieces. The fruit brings about the same relative 
price as barreled stock and the box pack is locally popular with 
growers because of the ease and convenience in packing, handling, 
and trucking to market. The boxes are filled directly from the trees, 
loaded in the orchards, and trucked immediately to market or to the 
storage plants. The buyers supply the boxes and pay cash on 
delivery at storage. The chief defect in this box is its flimsy construc- 
tion which tends to cause it to break or pull apart after repeated 
handling. 
SELLING THE CROP 
LOCAL MARKETS 
A considerable part of the farm apple crop is sold locally direct to 
consumers who buy from the farm wagon or come to the farm in 
automobiles, or it 1s disposed of to local stores and peddlers. The 
method involves little actual expense and often the package is 
returned.» Local retailing is especially desirable for low-grade fruit 
hardly worth shipment and for varieties little known in the general 
market. An orchardist is often surprised to find that the district 
within convenient trucking distance becomes an ample wholesale 
market when carefully developed by telephone, mail, and personal 
canvass. Retail customers are obtained by canvassing with samples, 
by setting up roadside stands, or by advertising. 
