38 ' STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



be handled at all. Learn the pickers to pick by the stem and lay eacb 

 berry into the box, one by one, as they are picked, and not touch the 

 berries after placing them in the box. This is important, if you would 

 have your berries arrive at destination in good condition. If pickers- 

 are allowed to handle the berries, they are very apt to break the gloss,. 

 and then they sour very quickly. 



Until this year I have always been under the impression that 

 strawberries should have plenty of fresh air circulating in and among 

 them in order to stand transportation well. A few crates have been 

 shipped where I have placed several layers of green leaves over the 

 berries, taking particular pains to have the leaves extra thi.ck betweea 

 the berries of the top tier of boxes and the cover, so as to shut out 

 all air possible. All that have been packed in this way have arrived 

 in perfect condition. 



In marketing my fruit, I still hold to the plan of selling direct ta 

 dealers, in medium-sized towns, avoiding the larger cities, where berries 

 are shipped in car lots to commission men. I tind that small towns arfr 

 not often glutted, and that by frequent quotations my customers can 

 tell whether they can afford to buy at my prices. 



I find a constant and growing demand for better and larger berries. 

 The time has come when the slip-shod methods of growing the berries 

 must of necessity be unprofitable. It is size and color with firmness 

 that the merchant wants, without much regard to flavor. If we have the 

 flavor, so much the better. A new customer of mine in Des Moines^ 

 Iowa, was thunder-struck when shown a sample lot of my fruit, and 

 wanted to know " where on earth such berries as those grew ?" and at 

 once telegraphed for 15 crates. 



While there is some money in growing strawberries, yet the real 

 enjoyment of pleasing my customers is one of the grandest things ia 

 the business. 



One of the unpleasant features of the business drops in when we 

 have a customer only a short distance away who tries to play " com- 

 mission merchant ;" says berries arrived in bad condition, half rotten, 

 and all this kind of talk, when the same kind of berries, picked at the 

 same time and handled in the same manner, were shipped 350 or 400 

 miles farther and arrived in perfect condition. I believe the berry- 

 growers should publish yearly a list of all customers who act in bad 

 faith, 80 that all could be forewarned of the unscrupulous dealers. 

 This list would save thousands of dollars to our growers annually. 



In regard to new varieties, I only have two really new — the 

 Greenville and Shuster's Gem ; either of which, I believe, this season 

 produced as many or more bushels to the acre as Crescent, and I con- 



