The Bulletin. 25 



HARVESTING AND MARKETING. 



Pickiag.— It is hardly necessary to ein])hasize the importance of 

 great care in picking the fruit. It should not be picked until it is 

 fairly well colored, still it must be picked before the berry becomes 

 thoroughly ripe, since it must be iirm for shipping purposes. It 

 should be picked as soon as it is well colored. 



The fruit should not be picked while it is wet. More fruit is 

 probably lost in transportation because of this one difficulty than 

 from any other cause. While the fruit is wet it rots rapidly and 

 cannot be shipped any great distance. Never pick immediately after 

 a rain or a heavy dew. 



The pickers should have close supervision, ^so that the fruit is not 

 mashed in picking. No berry will carry to market when badly 

 bruised, and no treatment after picking will remedy the bad effects 

 resulting from poor picking. As soon as the fruit is picked it should 

 be rushed to the packing-house. Often quarts remain in the field for 

 hours after being picked ; this is a bad practice, to say the least. The 

 fruit should be put in the shade as soon as possible after picking, 

 and kept cool. To leave it in the hot, broiling sun will ruin it in a 

 short time. 



Packing.— Usually the fruit is picked directly into the receptacle 

 in which it goes to market. The only packiug that is practiced in 

 the shed is a slight rearrangement of the top layer of fruit in the 

 quart. This is to make the quart appear attractive, to have it full, 

 and still not too full. In getting the quarts too full there is great 

 danger of the fruit on top being badly mashed. All unnecessary 

 handling should be avoided ; hence the importance of careful picking 

 in the field. Often many stems are left on the fruit in the quarts. 

 This has a tendency to carry the fruit to market in better condition, 

 but this advantage is largely overcome by the bad appearance of the 

 fruit on the market. 



In this State the 32-quart crate is used for shipping dewberries. 

 The frontispiece shows how the crate should appear when ready to 

 be closed up. 



Shipping.— The earliest fruit must of necessity be shipped by ex- 

 press. This increases the cost of marketing considerably, but one can 

 aftord to pay tliis, since the fruit brings a higher price at this season. 

 The express from most sections in this State is about as follows: 

 $1.25 per crate to Boston, and $1 per crate to New York. 



Very often express is very roughly handled, but it seems almost 

 impossible to prevent this ; still the gTower should insist, wherever 

 possible, that the crates should be handled with the utmost care. 



Refrigeration.— The bulk of the crop is shipped in refrigerator 

 cars. Since the dewberry follows the strawberry season in this State, 



