SUMMER MEETING. 51 



berries. (We do not muzzle our pickers in Michigan.) They are each pro- 

 vided with a tray that •will hold six quart boxes. They are made light and 

 shallow, have a hoop handle, like a market basket. The pickers are assigned 

 to a row each, or if the rows are wide, two to a row. The names of the pickers 

 for each day are entered on the page of a blank book kept for that purpose. 

 As the full trays come in, the number of quarts is entered on the line with each 

 name, being careful to place a point after each entry. The pickers place the 

 full quarts on the counter and refill the trays from a large basket that is kept 

 full of empty boxes by the packers, who repair any that may have been pulled 

 apart. At the close of the day's work the number of quarts picked by each is 

 carried out on the book, and checks are given to the regular pickers, and 

 transients paid off, each account being checked or marked paid as the case 

 may be. This record shows an accurate account of each day's work, under 

 its proper date, for the season. I find it necessary to withhold a portion of 

 the pay till the close of the season, or offer extra inducements to those who 

 stand by through "thick and thin." We who live five miles from town have 

 to pay more, and be less particular about our help than those who live where 

 it is plenty. Of late years I have paid one cent per quart for the large kinds, 

 and increased the price to one and a half and two cents, to close up with the 

 gleanings, which has proved satisfactory." 



E. H. Scott : I have my pickers pinch off every berry, and not pull them off. 

 They arrive in market in better condition, and keep fully a day longer. The 

 shelves of my packing house have hinges so they can be let down out of the 

 way when not in use, giving room for storage of tools, etc. 



T. T. Lyon : Do you sort the berries ? 



E. II. Scott: Yes, always. I have a separate hand to receive the boxes 

 from the pickers, sort the fruit and place in crates for shipment. I have a 

 woman in the field to oversee the pickers. 



The discussion was continued by the reading of the following notes upon 

 management of strawberry pickers, by A. J. Knisely, of Benton Harbor : 



MANAGEMENT OF STRAWBERRY PICKERS. 



One of the perplexing problems of the fruit farm is the management of berry- 

 pickers. As a good service to a new pilot may consist in not only showing him 

 where the channel is, but also in pointing out snags and shoals, so may a word, 

 dropped into the ear of the young berry-grower, regarding " how not to pick 

 berries," be of service to him. 



A good snag fco avoid is the quite common practice of permitting pickers to 

 take empty cases into the patch and return them, filled, to the shed where the 

 nailing: and stenciling 1 is done. 



Considering the general frailty of human nature, the almost universal dispo- 

 sition to ''put the best foot foremost," and the great tendency of big, lusty 

 berries to gravitate towards the sunlight, crowding the poor little fellows to 

 the bottom of the box, the practice alluded to places before the average picker 

 a temptation hard to resist. A prudent shipper cannot afford to guarantee 

 berries so picked and packed, and they are very apt to give dissatisfaction to 

 the purchaser. 



Do not allow pickers to "snap off " the berries, leaving the stem and calyx 

 adhering to the plant. It takes more berries so picked to fill a box, they 

 "bleed" readily, and are apt to arrive in market in a moist, mussy condition. 



