INDIANA HORTICi;]/rURAI. SOCIETY. 1551 



want these crates, or vessels of ^yhatever kind we use, in a nice clean 

 condition, never an old dirty box, to put the strawberries in. Never put 

 the crates in a dirty box. I prefer the sixteen-quart crate for several 

 reasons. They are easier to handle, and more people will take them for 

 family use. They are usually rated at the Chicago market in this way; 

 you will notice that the sixteen-quart crate is always quoted higher in 

 proportion to the number of quarts than the twenty-four quart is. I 

 believe if we bad twelve-quart crates we would get higher prices in pro- 

 portion, because more people can take them home. I am thinking of 

 getting a special crate made that will hold four boxes, and have a handle 

 on it, so that persons can take these and carry, them home; it would be 

 easy for the storekeeper? to sell these. A great many people use that 

 many berries during the day, and I believe if we sold them this way more 

 people would take them. I believe that the man that puts his berries in 

 the nicest boxes will make the most money. Another point that must be 

 carefully considered is the taking of the berries off of the vines. I never 

 have the berry pulled off, for if you do you will bruise the berry, or will 

 pull the stem out of the berry, and the whole hull will pull off, and then 

 they will not keep by twenty-four hours as long as the berries with the 

 stems still on. I have them pinched off. The first thing I do is to show 

 the pickers how to pinch the berries off. We use four and eight-quart 

 boxes to pick in, according to the swiftness of the picker. It is best to 

 give a new picker a four-quart box. I say to them, "Johnny, I want you 

 to pick these berries on this row Just as they come— all good marketable 

 berries, no buttons, soft berries, or bad berries— but just as they come 

 until your box is about a h:ilf inch of being full, and I don't want you to 

 put any berry in any other box until this one is full, then get another 

 box and fill that in the same way, and I want you to make your berries 

 look the very best possible." By all means never allow a picker to put the 

 berries from the boxes into the crate. I never do. This is a very bad 

 habit among berry raisers in our neighborhood. They give each fellow 

 his crate and write his name on it, and he fills it and brings it to the 

 . packing yard. Sometimes the pickers will put in boxes upside down and 

 put a few berries on top. They ought to do that for a man that will 

 allow his berries picked in that way. You must see every box and know 

 just exactly what is in it, and the condition of the berries when you put 

 them in the crate, and then you will know what you have to sell and what 

 the customers will get. If jou don't you will not know. what the pickers 

 are doing and what the customers are getting. Berries should have a cool 

 place in which to be kept during the night. Berries should not stand in 

 the sun ten minutes; crates should not stand in the sun either. Ivoavo 

 your boxes sitting in a cool place through the night and don't nail up 

 until the next morning. You will find that they will keep in better 

 condition. 



There are tlireo principnl wnys \n markot borrios. Ono is to tlic lionic 



