434 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



baskets, are used by the pickers to carry the fruit from the field to the- 

 packing shed, located conveniently near. This carrier holds 6 baskets, is 

 light and strong, and protects the picked fruit from sun and light showers,, 

 a point often overlooked by northern berry-growers. 



The shipping season begins about May 1 and continues till May 15 or 20. 

 Fruit is often found on the plants later than this, but after the early berries, 

 are ripe near the northern cities shipments from Norfolk cease to be prof- 

 itable. The shipping case in most common use is the " return " crate 

 with hinge top, holding 60 quart-baskets packed in four layers. These 

 layers are separated by slat-strengthened veneer division boards that 

 prevent the injuring of the fruit and insure good ventilation. A 32-quart 

 "gift" crate finds favor with some shippers, and the demand for this style 

 of package seems to be increasing. 



Transportation, both by water and rail, to Washington, Baltimore, Phil- 

 adelphia, New York, and Boston is convenient, speedy, and cheap. No 

 attempt is made to cool the fruit in transit. The water rate to New York 

 this season did not exceed 1 cent per quart. Sales varied from 6 to 14 

 cents per quart wholesale in the Northern cities for the bulk of the crop, 

 and netted the producers about two thirds of the wholesale price. The 

 average yield per acre, as estimated by leading growers, is about 2,000 

 quarts, and at the prices obtained this year the strawberry crop is profit- 

 able. 



The method practiced by the truckers is probably the safest and most 

 profitable one for them, as it lessens the amount of capital invested in an 

 uncertain crop and gives the early and clean fruit needed to secure good 

 prices when Norfolk berries are in the market. A modification of this 

 method may be found profitable in other sections of the country, where 

 the rainfall is sufficient to carry two growing crops during a portion of: 

 the season. 



MEETING OF THE AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



The twenty-third biennial session of the American Pomological society 

 was held in Washington in September. The meeting was held September 

 22-25, in the lecture room of the national museum. 



This society has numbered among its members the foremost penologists 

 of the country, and many important advances in the improvement of our 

 fruits have been placed on record at its biennial meetings. Its reports on 

 the nomenclature and value of varieties are everywhere regarded by fruit- 

 growers as the highest authority on those subjects. Through its published 

 reports and fruit catalogues it has done more to condense and make avail- 

 able to the general public the existing information on methods of culture 

 and adaptation of varieties to particular localities, etc., than any other 

 single agency. The fruit catalogue of this society is as yet the only reli- 

 able compilation of varieties that applies to the various fruitgrowing 

 regions, and its wider circulation among farmers and fruitgrowers would 

 do much toward preventing the annual waste of thousands of dollars' 

 worth of fruit trees and plants pat out every year by planters who have 

 not sufficient knowledge of the varieties adapted to their localities. 



The attendance at the meeting was good. Most of the states east of 

 the Mississippi and many west of it, including California, were repre- 

 sented. The programme of essays and addresses included papers on a 

 wide range of topics, arranged under three general heads, viz, scientific; 



