THE RURAL ME W-YORKER 
123 
1913. 
FRUIT AND PRODUCE PACKAGES. 
Last Spring I purchased a farm in Gloucester Co., 
southern New Jersey. There are two things in particular 
that I have not found out anything worth while about 
as yet; that is the kind of containers, crates, barrels and 
boxes etc., used or in demand in southern New Jersey 
when' sending produce (truck) to Philadelphia, Atlantic 
City or New York. The other query is whether it is 
difficult at all to sell produce at a profitable price, pro¬ 
duce that is in good condition, and inviting to look at. 
This of course may be looked upon as a dream, my think¬ 
ing of a market before I raise or know whether I can 
raise anything worth while, but I have raised some pro¬ 
duce in the past and feel that I can again. J. s. 
New Jersey. 
Several kinds of containers are used here for mar¬ 
keting produce, but the one most common is the -54- 
bushel wire hoop truck basket costing five to six cents 
each. Practically all of the produce sent to Philadel¬ 
phia either by boat or wagon, goes in this package. 
It is also used for marketing in other nearby mar¬ 
kets as well as for gathering and handling produce 
about the farm. The wagons in general use are con¬ 
structed to carry baskets, and this has come to be 
the standard package for general use under all condi¬ 
tions. For distant markets reached by rail this basket 
does not answer, for it has no cover, nor does it 
stow readily, therefore other special packages have 
come into use. One of these is 
the tomato crate holding about 26 
quarts. This has come to be the 
standard package for all tomatoes 
shipped to New York or other dis¬ 
tant markets. Tomato crates 
have solid ends with slats on top, 
bottom and sides. They are sold 
by local dealers at prices that vary 
according to scarcity and demand. 
Ten to 12 cents each is a fair 
average price, but if purchased, 
in the flat, in lots of 1,000 or 
more, and made up at home they 
need not cost more than 8^4 to 
nine cents each. 
Another package in general use 
is the hamper. This is used for 
shipping eggplants, peppers and 
sweet potatoes to New York, Bos¬ 
ton and other distant markets. 
The hamper is a large wire-hoop 
basket with a cover, and the 
standard now, I believe, is sup¬ 
posed to contain one bushel. The 
price of this package is 10 cents. 
The standard package for sweet 
potatoes is the ordinary flour bar¬ 
rel commonly known as the dou¬ 
ble-head barrel. I think this costs 
about 35 cents, but growers sel¬ 
dom buy any barrels. They sell 
the potatoes to dealers who do the 
barreling and furnish the barrels. 
Only large sweets go in double¬ 
head barrels. The second size 
and off-colored potatoes are 
shipped in single heads having 
burlap covers, and cost about 20 
cents. The single head is used 
for peppers and eggplants also, 
but as with double heads the 
growers leave the buying of these 
largely in the hands of the deal¬ 
ers. 
For strawberries we use the 
standard 32-quart crate, but these 
we do not need to buy if we ship our berries to 
Philadelphia or Chester, for the commission firms in 
these two cities are only too glad to send us crates for 
cur crop provided we fill them and return to the same 
firm, who will either buy the berries or else sell them 
for us on commission. When purchased new these 
crates cost us around 25 or 30 cents. Strawberry 
crates without boxes or slats as well as old orange 
boxes, which can be secured chiefly at any commis¬ 
sion house, are often used for sending asparagus to 
Philadelphia, but when they are used the bunches must 
be laid on their sides, and for long distances this is 
not a desirable method of packing. For long distances 
regular asparagus crates costing 20 to 22 cents are 
used. These have solid ends and bottom, with slatted 
sides and top. They are large enough to hold 24 
bunches of asparagus stood on end. A layer of damp 
moss is first placed in the bottom of the crate so that 
the bunches of “grass” standing on it will keep fresh 
and green until the market is reached. Cantaloupes 
are shipped in regular southern cantaloupe crates or 
else in a bushel crate made of the same pattern as 
the tomato crate, only larger. 
As a rule we do not have any difficulty in selling 
the crops generally grown in this section at a profit¬ 
able price, and each year sees an improvement in 
market conditions. One thing in our favor is the fact 
that we grow a sufficiently large acreage of our ma'in 
crops to attract buyers from various parts of the 
country, to our section, and the outlet for those crops 
is increasing steadily. There is no better market to 
be found for tomatoes than right here at Swedesboro. 
Twenty to twenty-five thousand crates a day are often 
shipped from this point. Buyers are there throughout 
the entire season ready to take the tomatoes as fast as 
unloaded, and they usually pay the very top prices. 
This is an ideal way to sell, for there is no uncer¬ 
tainty as to price received, and no long wait for news 
as to the condition of the market, which so often hap¬ 
pens when shipping on commission. The same con¬ 
dition exists in regard to sweet potatoes and poultry 
as well as miscellaneous farm products. Farmers 
throughout Gloucester County who cannot reach 
Swedesboro often have a similar market only on a 
smaller scale right in their own neighborhood, and 
take advantage of it, or else they ship independently. 
In either case they can usually dispose of their pro¬ 
duce at good figures. We do not expect though, and 
it would not be reasonable to expect, that all produce 
will be sold at profitable figures at all times. Slumps 
will come in the market for one reason or another, 
and then some one is bound to lose. I remember one 
shipment of 87 crates of fine tomatoes made some 
years ago that returned us clear of freight and com¬ 
mission only 41 cents for the entire lot, and we lost 
the crates besides. Two years ago we made a large 
consignment of strawberries to Boston and only re¬ 
ceived seven cents a crate clear. Last year was one 
of exceedingly high prices for tomatoes, yet we sold 
some that cleared us only nine cents a crate. They 
certainly did not sell at a profitable figure. But it is 
the average that counts, and I can safely say that 
after J. S. has learned to grow well the crops already 
being grown with profit by truckers in his own neigh¬ 
borhood, he will have no difficulty in disposing of 
them at a price sufficiently high to show a good profit 
when he strikes a balance for the year, trucker, jr. 
A singular damage suit brought hr a New York lum¬ 
ber company against a firm of shipping brokers is for 
the infestation of lumber by a destructive beetle from 
Panama. The shipping brokers had a contract by which 
they stored logs from Panama in the complainants’ yards, 
and insects spread from these logs to other lumber, caus¬ 
ing loss estimated at from $10,000 to $25,000. It seems 
possible that the legal points involved hero may establish 
a precedent for other eases of insect damage. 
THE PROBLEMS OF COUNTRY LIFE. 
Part II. 
Another problem of country life is the matter of 
education. The little old red school house upon 
which, according to some, the foundation of the na¬ 
tion was laid and to which went the “barefoot boy with 
cheeks of tan,” no longer seems to meet the needs and 
demands of to-day. The chances of success in life 
to-day are vastly in favor of the high school edu¬ 
cated boy or girl and even more in favor of the col¬ 
lege graduate. It counts on the farm and in country 
life. The farm survey of Cornell University showed 
that out of 573 farmers only 10 had ever been to col¬ 
lege, and all of these had completed their courses; 
165 had spent one or more years in a high school or 
academy; and the remainder, over one-half the total 
number, had never gone further than the district 
school. When it came to figuring the annual income 
of these farmers it was discovered that the college- 
trained men earned on an average $847 a year; the 
high school men $622; the others, the district schooled 
men, $318. The necessity for higher education is 
most patent. 
Evidently the day of the district school as formerly 
conceived is waning. There must be possibilities for 
high school training in the coun¬ 
try as well as the town and city. 
The little district school cannot 
render this service. And yet this 
is practically the only kind of 
school throughout the rural dis¬ 
tricts. But why have seven dis¬ 
trict schools in a township, each 
by the very nature of the case in¬ 
adequate to the demands of life 
to-day, when one central school 
with grades and high school might 
be built, the educational life 
centered, the advantages of thor¬ 
ough training possible and all at 
not much greater expense to the 
taxpayer? In no other way is 
higher education going to be open 
to the country boy or girl of the 
average family. The well-to-do 
can send their children away to 
school or move to town and thus 
gain these advantages but not so 
with most country dwellers. To 
one that rides about our country 
districts and sees the condition of 
affairs the situation is at times 
appalling. 
Another problem of country 
life is how to relieve the strain 
and monotony of work. As one 
writer has suggestively put it. 
“Twelve dollars a month and no 
picture shows makes Jack leave 
the farm.” The need for recrea¬ 
tion of the right sort is most 
pressing in the country. There 
are no Y. M. C. A’s. for the boys 
and young men. There are no 
clubs for the girls. For recrea¬ 
tion they are left for the most 
part to their own inclinations and 
resources. There are no public li¬ 
braries, none of the facilities for 
amusement of the good and profit¬ 
able character that are within 
reach of the town and city dwel¬ 
ler. In many instances so long and persistent has 
been this lack that the young fairly have to be taught 
what recreation \s. They actually do not know how 
to amuse themselves by groups. Co-operation in re¬ 
creation is as absent as co-operation in farming and 
community life. No more profitable work can the 
-church engage in than to develop this feature. 
From all these difficulties the church in the coun¬ 
try suffers. Religion should include all the good and 
true things of life in proper measure and right pro¬ 
portion. Only as the life of the members of the com¬ 
munity are normal will the religious life be whole¬ 
some and adequate. Recreation, education, wholesome 
standards of living and reasonable rewards for labor 
expended cannot but be conducive to a large and full 
religious life. Religion may and does exist without 
these factors but not in full-orbed strength and ef¬ 
fectiveness. The church cannot hold the best in the 
community or region deprived of these factors of life, 
for the best inevitably go where these are present. 
What a magnificent work for her to aid in bringing 
them to our rural communities, enriching the life, 
deepening and broadening experience, relieving the 
irksome toil and deadening monotony that many times 
rests heavily upon communities and in so doing build 
herself up and enlarge Christian effectiveness. “And 
the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large 
as the breadth.” Why not the country also? 
Orange Co., N. Y. (rev.) Alfred s. clayton. 
I 
