Milford chronicle., 1883-04-13
FRUITLAND GRANGE, No. I6.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CRATES AND BASKETS.
The chief essentials of these articles, are, ft'
ness for the work. durability, strength, hghtness
aud good appearance.
These would give US what we desire did the
market have no caprces
| Let us consider berry crates and berry baskets
To be desirable, the crate must be made Of the
right kind of wood, well seasoned, white pine
makes good crate if well secured. To that
end, the nails should be clinched' not simply
driven which will do very well in Maryland pine
crate Then the wood being durable, SO is the
crate strong, if the iastenings are permanent.
We never, however, admired the Beecher
Basket -co,s-'Ebiie pms crate, 5Ht think The
IDel." Fruit Crate much the neater in appearance
and so far as our experience goes, is durable
crate. We think :he design good one aad fair
" well executed. Oar impression is, that. there
is crate made Of white pine by parties in New
York State. same style as "The DEL" Fruit Crate,
and much lighter. Prices, market demands,
goods to be shipped, etc, will of course influence
our purchasers. Alter the first season, II not be-
fore. they should be painted for several reasORs,
viz: handlers are inclined to treat neat looking
crate with more respect than they would mean
looking one, simply on general principles. It
helps sell the contents aud preserves the exterior.
Then if they are stacked out in the open air,
whether at home or in some northern town or
city, would Tot swell in the rain or warp in the
sun.
Do not however store crates in fence corners
or stack them one in place around the premises.
Crates should be marked with owners
, name and number of station and the abbrevia'
ton OF name Of State. The lumber Of the sta
ton if not all should be in red for all stations on
? the Delaware railroad, because crates and fruit
packages are sorted and shipped from the great
commercial centers, more by colors than by
names OF individuals, or stations.
From business point Of view, Honesty is the
best policy" 1t applies to selling berries. Il
we pretended to sell certain quantity Of berries
we ought to see that the exact measure, not a
smaller, is put up and sold. This has its modifi
ers in the habit of the consumer and the de
mands Of the market; no less powerful because
silent.
= Barnum says; "The American people like tC
I be humbugged." Certainly they seem to b av'
been, by a sliding scale Of berry baskets, Grating
etc. This cheating is sure to be rewarded as
well as honesty. standard there is, Tor ought
to bel and it should be adhered to.
!, We believe in a cheap well ventilated basket
whether square or round, because crates are re
turned with all kinds of baskets ia all stages Of
dissolution, and fine fruit should not be shipped
r in dirty shaky baskets. We favor q square
} basket on the ground, that more bulk can bs
placed in a square basket crate, than in round
baske. crate Of the same size, and the smaller
the crate to do the work, the better.
The baskets also fit and keep IN position bet
ter. We think best to use thIrty-tWo and forty
I eight quart crates for strawberries and black
J berries, and sixty-pnt crates for raspberries.
In conclusion we beg to present for your con-
sideratioo, correspondence with crate and basket
manufacturers giving prices etc.
Respectfully submitted by your committee.
s.H. DERBT, Chairman,
. EDMUND sroUr.
Bro. C. Brown agreed with what the commit.
tee had said 10 reference 10 using square baskets
his experience was, that fruit shipped in square
baskets brought better prices than that shipped in
round ones He did not think it necessary to secure
proper ventilation by using round baskets. BE
: had noticed that his fruit when Paekd in square
baskets, had sold for two cents more per quart in
Boston and New York, than that shipped in the
round baskets to the same markets. The fruit
certainly must have carredbetter, or this would
not have been the case. Another great advan-
tage the square basket had, was that 1t just held
, the quantity represented, and no more; while
most all the leading rouLd baskets in the market
hold more, that is; a round pint basket holds
more than pint, and around quart basket holds
more than quart. Again, the square basket
makes a much neater package. II packs into
the crate in less space, and being lighter It
carries more fruit at less cost Of freight, the
package Itself Is less expensive than the round
ouos.