The sun., 1897-05-09
THINGS MADE OF VENEER.
MILLIONS OF BASKETS FOR BERRIES
AND CRATES FOR FRUIT.

All Sorts, from T'te Plates ana Better Dishes to
| uarrciH for Pens-Mnchincs That shave
LoEs-Giris Get a5 Cents n Thousand for
shaping BnsEets-3. 900 Days Work.
When you buy pie pound or two OF butter.
or Strawberries or other small fruits for dessert,
| the grocer sends them homo to you zach In its
own neat wooden plate. cup. or basket, with no
| extra charge for the package and with no In.
| junction upon you I'd return or even to caro- for
| tho package. You use the packages for other
| purposes, burn them, or pitch them into the
refuse barrels. probably without n thought ns TO
| the source from which they came. the ingenuity
OF their manufacture, or tho great convenience
which they offcr to yourself and the dealer in
the improvement ovor tho methods OF handling
goods which were In vogue only fow years ago.
Tho next time one OF these neat wooden pack.
ages comes into your hand give It a moments
attention. and ten to one 1t will set you wonder
ing at the skill and ingenuity which is evident
in its production and at the cheapnoss of prod.
uct which can DO given away with each few
cents worth of groceries or fruit. Butter plates
are in fact cheap that IL the grocer weighs tho
thin wooden dish part of the butter and sells
1t at the price OF butter he is making n larger
profit upon 1t than he makes on tho butter
itself. Tho manufacture OF these clever
wooden packages has all grown up within
a few years. but the use for them has
grown to such extent in this short time
that the numbers OF them sold every year can
only be computed by getting into the hundreds
Of millions. The manufacture of them has be-
como q very important industry in communities
where perhaps little or nothing else in tho
manufacturing way could be successful. and IL
is computed that between 25. 900 and 80, 900 per-
sons are employ cd in this industry. The making OF
the packages goes on during the whole year, but
the great market time for them is Just begin.
.,s,.x- sL.a
early fruits and garden truck from the market
gardens of tho South. 1t is the farmers who
nowadays pay for the packages in which we buy
our fruit and vegetables, and, little as these
packages cost. they form serious tax upon tho
farmer at the present prices Of his products.
The simplest Of all these packages Is the pie
plate-a mere circle Of veneer stamped into form
in hot die. Next comes the butter dish which.
If you undo one and lay it out fiat. you will dis.
and bent into form along lines partly cut through
1t: 1t is held In its final form either @ BY being
! stitched with small wire staples which are
driven through and clinched: A, more compll-
butee s6 S nSed wSs Il the sSs5Y
duty is done in going from ON the shop to the pur.
But the berry basket must be strong, enough
to carry its load through the rough hand.
finally; perhaps; the hawking Of the 6er
one Of these you will find it made Of two pieces
cut with ingenuity SO that when they are folded
m snaa
these pieces are finally fastened together with
tacks or staples and bound around the edge
with double strip OF n veneer OF tough wood.
grocer, or the florist and you viii find each
Of veneers; The foundation Of this modern
package business lies in the invention
wood into continuous strips of in
| stead OF the old way OF saving the vcneers
ont Quill IKE boards That machine ; was Sin invented ted
turned whole forests into pliable strips of wood
OF the thickness Of ordinary cardboard and as
| itics which make them available for purposes
for which cardboard would be utterly useless.
which are right at the edges OF the forests while
lines and in the vicinity Of towns and villages.
Not many spots combine all of these features.
ae TaH o Hs Of
Of their works. Where poplar beech and
ssa sas s the 1ns bssEes Ro tTs:
in which berries are sent to market
are made where white spruce grows. So il one
| were to hunt along the outskirts Of the farming
districts. in New Hampshire. New York. Della.
ware. Maryland; Virginia. and in Michigan
in which perhaps 100 persons were employed in
making fruit and berry packages, Twenty-Five
| ing in the logs from the woods and doing the
| heavier parts OF the factory work. and all the
Others girls and boys or women who do the
The process 5; Of manufaeturs begins at once
with the barking Of the he logs The logs are then
and immediately plunged into a long vat OF boil
ing water or sealed into tanks where live steam
| is fed to them. They are steamed or boiled for
| iwcnty-four hours 4 crane picks them up one
| by one and lands them between the centres of II
| tired and clipped fast. As they begin to turn
broad sharp knife as long as the logs
mense ] ribbon % Of Wood. ~ As the ribbon Oi sdes
over the knife rollers catch il and feed il under
but part way through il. make the marks upon
es s ae IN pb ars m C @ &
still have to be shaped. and this is done by pass.
| ing them between other rollers set with knives.
The work of the men ends with the turning
out OF the reneers; Now girls take the formed
Each girl has before hcr wooden form. SHAPED
be driven, She, deftlX, folds n strip Of tough
Gs % e' this ho pieces rGs 1hsh
form the body and over these another band
takes these one by one and drives them through
% RS where hcSy sfn sssani the iron
fastened with staples are tackled by a machine
which carries a coil Of wire which 1t bends and
| rapidly as u sewing machine stitches while the
| girl holds the form under It,.
Some girls will make 5000 berry baskets in
| n day, and tho average worker can make about
| 1000. They get 80 cents a thousand for the
work. For peach baskets they get 10 cents n
| hundred. The bottoms of these baskets are
| round pieces of wood, and the machine which
| cuts these is clever piece OF work. 1t is a saw
| made OF cvlinder of steel with tho teeth OH its
bottom edge. Boards are piled up dozen or
| more high and passed under the saw. Each time
| 1t cuts down 1t cuts clear through tho pile, and
soon turns the whole pile into round blocks.
| In other parts Of the factory crates are being
sawed out and nailed together Each we'll
made crate will have sixty or, seventy nails in
| II, be fitted with hinges and hasp for the
cover, and yet one OF these with thirty-two
quart berry baskets in 1t sells for only twenty
n te AMI wr re are pedad & TO pc
metal corner pieces for strength and are made
Of heayier material sell for few cents more.
| and 1t is estimated that O00O0, 900 berry bas-
kets alone are used In this country every year.
| Tho l6-guart peach baskets. which are also
used for ablcs sell for ais cents each. They