Afternoon Ray. I’ve picked up on your message on the ‘Kent’ thread regarding the old wooden bushel boxes. Yes, coincidence for sure but it allows me to relate my own experience’s of them. Before that I’d just like to say that J G Piper of Herts Farm out at Loose are growers and although I never collected from there myself its not beyond the realms of possibility that Mitchell & Robertson did work for them. We collected from so many farms in the area it would take a page or two to name them all if I could remember who they were of course.
Getting back to bushel boxes we mustn’t forget the half bushel box, which was not very common, but had its uses. Whereas the larger box was used mainly for apples the smaller box was used for the likes of pears, plums and damsons. I was brought up on a fruit farm, my father worked for Bill Tassell of Mansion Farm, Ulcombe, and we lived in one of his houses surrounded by countless orchards of Bramley apples. At Mansion Farm Bill had a large building erected in about 1952 which housed 4 cold storeage chambers, a packing area and storage area which was where empty bushel boxes were stored. The farm operated under the name ‘Tassell Brothers’ and comprised two other farms. At ‘Grafty Green’ there were another two chambers and at ‘Church Farm’ which was run by Bill’s brother Jessie, there were something like fourteen chambers, maybe more. It took a lot of bushel boxes to fill them all.
My father worked at Mansion Farm and looked after the cold store. I was there in about 52 when it was commissioned. In September as the apples were picked they would be brought in from the orchards and put into the store by hand. They went in in two layers. I think the first layer was about 7 boxes high then once the store was full to that height a small door was opened above, a conveyer belt put in place and more boxes were loaded into the upper area. I think these were placed 5 high. Air had to circulate around the chamber so the boxes didn’t go up to the ceiling or out to the walls.
Later, during the winter and through to next spring the boxes were brought out of the chambers in small numbers. The apples were checked, graded and repacked into more bushel boxes which were all stamped ‘Tassell Bros’ to make sure they came back but to make doubly sure a deposit had to be paid. A lot of the fruit was sold through 'Boardman". I don’t know if it was a fruit broker by the name of Mr Boardman or a company called Boardman but I know a lot of the apples went to Manchester and Hull markets. I remember big old 8 wheelers coming in to load, all northern companies, one of which deposited its load in a ditch before it had gone a mile down the road. Bill wasn’t happy about that incident but by then it was the hauliers problem.
Anyway getting back to the bushel boxes. I helped out a lot in the store as the apples were checked. I would help sorting the apples, stapling the paper covers over the boxes and moving empty boxes to the storage area. I didn’t get paid as such but now and again Mr Tassell would give me sixpence. I was still quite young then so thought it was great. Another job that had to be done was to sort out the broken boxes and repair them. Maybe thats why I became a carpenter/joiner when I left school a few years later.
Little did I know, a few years down the line, that when I joined Mitchell & Robertson I’d be handling thousands of wooden bushel boxes again.
However, I must admit that when bulk bins were introduced I was quite happy to see the ‘bushel box’ consigned to the bonfire on the 5th of November. But now I’m not so sure. Have you seen the prices on eBay!
