Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1921-08-03
They Look the Same slze,- but. They Are Not.

Prepared by the United States Depart
ment Of Agriculture.) :
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 II
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
a 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 gut
down by fostering the use of stand
ard containers.
oId.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 a 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 c%enters, where the d.
versity of styles and sizes Of contain
ers have resulted in unnecessary con
fusion. 1
There are in common use today.
about 40 sizes of cabbage crates, 20
styles of celery crates, 80 lettuce
crates or boxes so styles and sizes
of hampers, Is styles and sizes of
round stave baskets, and market bas-
kets, varying in size from 1 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 In these contain
ers 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 a still shorter one is
put out by an u%nscruplous minority.
The six-quart market basket, the
14quart peach basket, the seven
eighths-bushel bean hamper, and the
fve-peck lettuce hamper are easily
confused with peck, half-bushel, BUSH
ell and 1h-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 a manufacturer
wishes to introduce a crate into a pro-
ducing section normally using the bar
rel instead of using the bushel unit,
the tendency is to offer a barrel
crate or half-barrel crate. At the pres
emit time the crates and boxes are be-
ing manufactured in sizes based o
the United States standard barrel (1O5
uuarts) with Its subdivisions, the
United States cranp> 'ey barrel (86
1854 q~uarts) with its subdivisions, the
weight bushel, the heaped bushel, mi
the volume bushel. These different
standards are used because Of compel
ing packages.
Series Of Crates.
The result may be seen by a glance
at the following table:
Three Series of Crates Which Cannot BE
Readily Distinguished From Each Other.
Crates based on U. S. apple barrel:
1-barrel crate.................quarts f0
h-barrel crate.................. DO foE7a
1-3 barrel crate................ do %
Crates based on U. 8. cranberry barrel:
1-barrel crate ............quarts " 4o-o4
h-barrel crate ...."....... do aSad .
Ia barrel crate.......... d % 1882
Crates based OF standard bushel:
3-bushel 70
'1h-bushel crate.................. 40
1-bushel crate............:..".... GO @
A standard unit Of measure should
be- permanent, definite, and of fixed