The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1921-04-28
Shippers Interested In
StandardiziDg Containers
Multitude OF Sizes And Lack Of In
iformity Increased Cost OF Ship
ments, Resulting In Lower Prices
To Producers And Higher Prices
To Consumers.

To eliminate fraud in the market.
! ing of fruits and vegetables by the
substitution of shOrt-measure pack
/ ages at full-measure prices is one of
the principal objects of specialists of
! the United States Department of Ag-
riculture now making a study Of the
! hundreds Of different types of con-
tanners in use. For example, bas-
! kets which contain seven-eighths of
! a bushel are. frequently used as
bushel baskets. it being difficult to
detect the short measure. In Farm
ers' Bulletin 1916 from the Bureau
of Markets. just published ty the de-
partment. the specialists discuss the
need for standard containers for
e. and vegetables and describe
he public is sometimes defraud
'ause of the many types and
>tz~s-of containers now in use.
Since the passage of the Federal
standard barrel law, in 1915, there
has been a steady progress in the
work of eliminating unnecessary and
deceptice sizes from the list of con-
tainers used in fruits and vegetables,
says the bulletin. The passage of
the United States cOntainer act, es-
tablishing standards for grape bas-
kets, berry boxes, and small till bas
kets. followed in 1916.
Multitude or Sizes Increases Cost
The serious lack of uniformity of
containers increases the cost of mar
keting, say the specialists, because or
the greater expense of manufactur-
ing a large number of unnecessary
styles and sizes and by breakage in
transit. which is sometimes directly
attributable to the difficulty of load
ing odd-sized containers. There are
Uncommon use at present about Az
sizes of cabbage crates, 20 styles OF
celery crates. 80 lettuce crates or
boxes SO styles and sizes of hampers,
| ) styles and sizes of rOund-staVe
baskets and marketing baskets vary
ing in size from 1 to "a quarts,
whereas relatively few standard sizes
would satisfy all demands of the
trade. In many cases the quart
market basket, the IA quart peach
basket. the Is bushel bean hamper,
and the peck lettuce hamper are
confused with peck, half-bushel,
bushel and p bushel baskets.
The two acts referred to which es-
tablish standard containers, have
done away with a large number of
! unnecessary sizes of barrels, berry
boxes and grape baskets, and have
awakened a widespread demand for
the application of the same princi-
pal to other containers, says the but
i Ietin. At present there is no stand
ard hamper which is one of the most
widely used types of containers, es-
pecially popular in the Eastern and
Central States Almost 30,OOO,0OO
of these baskets are used annually.
! The sizes of hampers which are re-
commended by the Bureau of Mar
kets of the Department of Agricul-
ture as being sufficient in number to
satisfy all legitimate requirements OF
the trade are as follows: quart q.
/ peck; 16 quart of II bu7--1I
quarts or l mushel; 4S quarts or X
bushel. 1t is suggested that the lat
ter be made in two styles to meet
he preference in various parts of the
country.
The round-stave basket for which
there is no standard, is popular in all
regions except the Southern and Mid
die Atlantic States and on the Pacific
Coast About 20,0OO,000 such bas-
kets are manufactured annually. The
sizes which are recommended as