384 State Horticultural Society. 



After the first three or four days in the beginning of the season the 

 field should be picked every day. It is during the rainy seasons that 

 the ))icking question becomes a hard problem ; especially is this true when 

 the berries are to be shipped in car lots to distant markets. If the 

 weather is very warm and the fruit is full ripe and we must choose be- 

 tween picking in the early morning when the fruit is still wet with dew 

 or rain, or picking during the heat of the day, I think it is best to pick 

 in the cool of the morning before the berries become heated by the 

 sun, as they will soon dry out, especially if loaded in refrigerator cars, 

 and carry better than if loaded while hot and soft. Soft and over-ripe 

 berries should always be thrown out. A very few soft berries in a 

 box often causes the whole box to deteriorate before reaching the market. 

 When prevented by rain from picking two days in succession during 

 the height of the picking season, we believe it would be advisable as an 

 economic proposition to have the berries picked in vessels, sold to the 

 canneries or jam factories wiiere possible to do so, and when not pro- 

 vided with these outlets, throw them away. While this will incur the 

 expense of picking, it will save the possible loss of the package, in 

 case they are shipped, and a much greater loss that would result during 

 the balance of the season by soft and over-ripe berries continually get- 

 ting into the boxes. 



As stated in the beginning of our remarks, the division of our sub- 

 ject "how to market" is very complex and we would not attempt to lay 

 down a general plan. Our relations to the market, supply and demand, 

 and weather conditions being the controlling elements in the marketing 

 of our strawberries, and each of these being so varied and changeable, 

 no best way can be suggested, only that which would best apply to the 

 season and conditions as they present themselves from year to year. 

 In marketing berries locally or by shipments in a small way by express, 

 we should bear in mind that merit wins, and each should strive to build 

 up his own reputation by taking care of his trade, whether he sells direct 

 to the consumer or to a local dealer, the how to be determined by 

 whichever way brings you the most money. 



Presuming that I am expected to treat this subject at greater length 

 from a car lot standpoint than how to market in a local way, we will 

 pass to that phase of the question which is of much greater importance 

 commercially than many of us are aware. 



There were eleven hundred cars of berries shipped from the berry 

 districts of Southern Missouri and Northwest x-\rkansas during the 

 present year, from which the net returns amounted to about $640,000. 

 About seven hundred of these cars were from Missouri and five hundred 



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