The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1921-07-23

! prepared by the United States Depart
! ment of Agricultural
Standard containers for marketing
! fruits and vegetables are of more in
! tereSt TO the average citizen than he
generally realizes. Not only is he de-
frauded frequently by the substitution
of shOrt-measure packages at the full
measure price, which is Inevitable if
the difference in the size of the pack
ages is not easily detected, but also
the cost of marketing is increased by
the greater expense of manufacturing
large number of unnecessary styles
and sizes and by breakage in transit,
sometimes directly attributable to the
difficulty of loading Odd-sized con-
tanners. These losses constitute an
unnecessary tax on the fruit and
vegetable industry that the bureau Of
markets, United States Department
of Agriculture, is endeavoring to cut
down by fostering the use of stand
ard containers.
Old-Time Units Cause Confusion.
Local package units that came into
use long ago are most largely re-
SponSible for present difficulties.
Such packages may have been salts
factory when their use was confined
to limited territory. but of late years
rapid transportation and the use of
special refrigerator and ventilatOr
cars have brought the products of
every section of this country into our
great marketing centers, where the di-
versity of styles and sizes of contain
ers have resulted in unnecessary con-
fusion.
There are in common use today
about 40 sizes of cabbage crates, 20
styles of celery crates, 80 lettuce
crates or boxes, 80 styles and sizes
of hampers, IL styles and sizes of
round stave baskets, and market bas-
kets. varying in size from l to "a
quarts, whereas relatively few stand
ard sizes would satisfy all the de-
mands of the trade.
The unfair competition of short
measure containers has been another
unsatisfactory factor. Certain shrewd
packers have found that by slight
notifications in the shape of pack
ages the cubical contents can be re-
duced substantially without noticeably
affecting the appearance
Short-Measure Package.
Commodities sold i'm these contain
srs can be offered at a lower price per
package than those sold in standard
packages, but the price by unit of
weight is. of course, higher. Often
this has caused the general adoption
of the shOrt-measure package. and
there is no end to this procedure, for
once the short measure is recognized
as the standard still shorter one is
put out by an unscruplous minority.
The six-quart market basket, the
14-quart peach basket, the seven
eighths-bushel bean hamper. and the
five-peck lettuce hamper are easily
confused with peck, half-bushel, BUSH
Ell and 11a-bushel baskets.
Another factor which has caused
the addition of many unnecessary
packages is the lack of a unit which
Is accepted as the basis for all pack
age standards. If manufacturer
wishes TO introduce crate into pro-
ducing section normally using the bar
rel instead of using the hushel unit,
the tendency is to offer barrel
crate or half-barrel crate. At the pres
ent time the crates and boxes are be-
ing manufactured in sizes based on
the United States standard barrel CO5
Quarts) with its subdivisions, the
United States cranberry barrel CSC
1864 quarts) with its subdivisions. the
weight bushel. the heaped bushel. and
the volume bushel These different
standards are used because of compet-
ing packages.
Series of Crates.
The result may he seen by glance !
at the following table:
Three Series of Crates Which Cannot Be
Readily Distinguished From Each Other.
Crates based on U. S. apple barrel:
I-parrel crate.......... quarts Jos
1s-Darrel rate.....-............ do 525 !
l-3 barrel crate............. do %
Crates based on L. s. cranberry barrel:
l-barrel crate quarts Sc 1854 |
15-barrel crate .............. do AZ 1872 |
l-3 barrel crate.............. do IS 1892 /
Crates based on standard bushel:
S-bushel crate. ...-...............quarts rs /
n5-bushel crate................. do IS l
l-Dushei ra'e..'.'...'.''.......... do 80
a standard unit of measure should /