The ‘Box’ -E. B. Bean 1875

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The first ‘boom’ in citrus growing took place in the 1870’s.  Many small packing operations developed with no standardization until E. B. Bean started sending his fruit to market is a wood box with two (2) compartments.  This ‘box’ had a volume of 1 3/5 bushels and soon became the standard ‘packed’ box for the industry.  The 1 and 3/5 volume became the Florida ‘box’.  Check out the exhibit that provides details on the ‘box’.

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For many years fruit was transported from grove to packinghouse in wood ‘field’ boxes.  These boxes were also 1 and 3/5 bushels by volume and when full of fruit weighed about 90 pounds. 

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The industry has used E. B. Bean’s box for measuring citrus for 150 years!  Growers measure yield in boxes per acre, the federal Agricultural Statistics Service reports yield in boxes.  Over time packinghouses moved to a smaller wood box (known by manufacturer’s name – Bruce).  During World War II cardboard boxes appeared and are still the standard container for fresh fruit shipments.

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Note that the colorful crate labels that are displayed many places were placed on the end of the wood boxes to ‘catch’ the buyer’s attention and served as ‘advertisement’ for the packer.  Check out the story of crate labels.