Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1897-11-19
PACKING OF PRODUCE
NEW HINTS FROM THE DEPARTMENT
- .. or AGRICULTURE.

New HINTS FROM THE DEPARTMENT
+ ,. or AGRICULTURE. |
usosut Bulletins illustrate How Poor
Prices May Follow Shipments Of Fine
Produce-Necessity Of Packing Well.
Uniformity In Packages.
One of the most interesting of recent
bulletins issued by the department of aeri-
eulture concerns the marketing of farm
produoe George u. Hill, formerly editor
and manager of The American Farmer
hos compiled it along lines which makes
h Of practical interest to every grower ana
shlpper of farm produce. The bulletin
eoes at length into the preparation OF
produce for market, but lays particular
stress upon sorting and packing In his
Introduction Mr.. Hill says:
ut cannot b. denied that in marketing
esrm products the art of taking infinite
pains Ia essential to profit, and tho lack Of
Il insures certain loss. OF this any one
Who will take a short walk through the
markets or market streets of our cities or
sisit the wharfs or depots where farm
products are extensively handled can
speedily convince himself On every side
no will see farm produce Of good quality
selling at reduced prices owing to the
torn or manner In which it is put up. and.
In not few cases. cast aside by the deal
ers AZ not worth handling, owing to
damaged condition, which with little
oara would have been avoided In such
cases the only profit accrues to the trans
portation companies, whose charges for
Carrying freight, of course, depend not
upon quality but quantity. The farm
products which on arrival prove to BIZ I'm.
ea|able no one can estimate. but it must
foot up enormously, to shy nothing of the
freight charges paid on goods sold fur De
low market rates because put up careless
IL or in unsuitable or unpopular pack.
ages"
illustrating this advantage Of packing
he.says:
1.-TWO lots of radishes will come to
market, both lots of the finest quality
One lot will be made up into punches, In
each of which the radishcs will he OF equal
size and the bunch neatly tied III TIC
other the punches will contain radishes
of various sizes and the punches be clum
silly tied. The first buyer that comes
along will snap up the first lot at fan
cy price, while the second lot will be he
elected until the demand is exhausted
and will ultimately sell for little or moth
ing. The same diff "r>Hc may be seen In
several lots of carrots. careful washing
proving an important ,cor with this and
other roots Neatness and attractiveness
Invariably pay we'll for tie Extra trouble
expended:
uniformity is of the greatest impor.
lance and requires a little more effort
Some varieties Of produce are invariably
marketed in uniform packages, the 30
dozen egg case, for instance, being the
universal standard. but others. particular
" fruits and vegetables, are put up in
various packages. and while some peril
cent suggestions may b. made the only
safe rule to follow is to ascertain the re-
auirements of the market or markets to
which you expect to ship and be- guided
by them. 1t may however, be accepted as
practically unvarying truth that the fin
est produce will not bring the highest
prices If packed in unusual packages The
writer saw an instance of this recently
A Texas concern, new In, the business,
esnt its fine crop Of gem melons to market
In boxes containing l u bushels, the usual
package in this market being half bushel
basket.
, 1.-THE commission merchant who re
oeived the consignment. although recog-
nized as leader in gems, tried In vain to
seizure a higher price for the more gener-
Gus boxes, but was finally obliged to cell
them at the then market price Of $1.25 for
half Bushels Fortunately the producer
was present when the shipment arrived
and Immediately telegraphed his associates
to ship gems thereafter in nothing but
half bushel baskets As consequence
tho last shipment from that source, con-
sisttng of 500 bushels in 1000 half bushel
baskets sold for exactly the same amount
an each of the two previous shipments,
which aggregated 1900 bushels each.
Needless to say that shipper will study
the peculiarities of his market before max
ing further shipments. The above seems
like an exaggeration, but it was an actual
occurrence, and the principle may be veri-
led any day.
= packing after the quality Of the prod
no. Is the next most important considera-
ton. A little study of the route your
produce must take to reach the consumer
will convince you Of this. A typical trip
will be as follows Several miles ride in q
spring wagon from farm to railroad over
more or less rough road; then 10 to 500
Or 0vcu A,UOU ILLUS O1 E11lIOduS CdIO'
less, hurried handling by trainmen; load
tug the produce on the wagons of the com.
mission merchant and hauling over rough
city pavelnents to his store; exposure for
some time, and another haul to the store
of the retailer, where it Is again exposed
for sale, and usually another haul at lively
speed to the home of the consumer. Con-
slider what this means to tender fruit or
vegetables and the necessity of extreme
care becomes obvious"
Following these general comments on
packing and shipping the bulletins con-
tain one paragraph concerning the straw
berry which Is most important:
"There is one point which cannot be
emphasized too strongly and which every
shipper should thoroughly understand,
and that is that decay produces heat and
beat produces decay-that is to say, that
QUO box Of badly deoaying berries may
ruin . case, or probably car. Actual
oontoot contrary to the generally received