48 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
the large ones of the 216 pack will pack 
in 200’s and the smaller in 250T—and 
bring more money ? 
THE SIZE OF THE BOX 
The size of the box has become practi¬ 
cally standardized in that of two sections 
of one cubic foot each. Does the present 
marketing customs call for, or admit of a 
change for the obtaining of a better price? 
Our deceased fellow member, Mr. Dud¬ 
ley Adams, of Mt. Dora, used to pack his 
fancy fruit in three sections, instead of 
two, as we do tangerines, and had the rep¬ 
utation of securing from one-half to one 
dollar above the market price of standard 
boxes. Schrader & Co. are trying out 
the introduction of half-bushel boxes. 
Our parcel post regulations will un¬ 
doubtedly afford an outlet for fancy fruit 
in packages of one to four dozen, within 
the near zones, and enlarge the mail or¬ 
der business. 
The packing of fruit in central packing 
houses at some large sales center, or at 
the more northerly diverting points, has 
been under consideration by some of our 
leading thinkers, and now that the new 
railroad rates on “bulk shipments” tend 
to make such a method practicable, it is 
worth investigation. 
A bulk shipment and northern central 
packing house would have these advan¬ 
tages : Cheaper freight rates, more and 
cheaper labor in packing house, absolutely 
sound fruit to buyers, a larger F. O. B. 
market, and a better market for culls, and 
a better opportunity to sell small lots di¬ 
rect to consumers, or the retail trade, all 
of which seems to me to be worthy of 
the most careful consideration . 
Changes in Box to Meet Another New 
Marketing Feature That Has Developed 
Within the Last Year or Two. The or¬ 
ganization of consumers’ buying clubs 
throughout the north is in practice, and 
might be encouraged and assisted by our 
selling organization of the exchange, and 
thus get closer in touch with the con¬ 
sumer—the end most desired. 
Direct from Grower to Consumer. The 
express companies are succeeding in this 
method, why not the growers, through the 
Florida Citrus Exchange selling force? 
After five years of insistent, persistent 
preaching and teaching of “The Ex¬ 
change Way” of packing, and the very 
general practice of associations in secur¬ 
ing a perfect pack, let every grower back 
up every packing house manager in main¬ 
taining as perfect a pack as possible. We 
all know how easy it is to “slack up” 
from the best both physically and morally. 
Don't. 
Can We Lessen the Expense? Now 
that we know how to pick, handle, and 
pack fruit in a way to secure its sound 
and presentable delivery to the consumer, 
can we lessen the expense of so doing? 
I naturally expected that by the use of 
machinery and systematized methods of 
handling fruit we would be able to do it 
cheaper as well as better than in the past; 
but instead, expenses have actually in¬ 
creased. 
Now let me ask every grower, and es¬ 
pecially every packing house manager, at 
the end of this season, to go over every 
detail of the business, and see if it is not 
possible to cut out a little expense here 
and a little there, and before the next sea¬ 
son opens, call a meeting of packing house 
