WINTER MEETING AT LEBANON. 303 



A strawberry patch should be picked over every day, so as to pre- 

 vent over-ripe and soft berries from geting into the shipments to injure 

 their sale and depreciate the market, and, if you have no market for 

 your Saturday's berries, you should pick over the patch just the same, 

 and you can well afford to give them to your neighbors who have none 

 of their own, and you will be well repaid for this generous act, not 

 only by their expressions of gratitude, but by the much better price 

 you will receive for the next picking, because of the absence of over- 

 ripe stock. 



Easpberries should not be permitted to get fully ripe or soft, es- 

 pecially the red varieties, which should be taken off when they are of 

 a light red color, or as soon as they will slip from the stem, because, 

 owing to their delicate nature, if permitted to get fully ripe they will 

 arrive in the market in an unsalable condition. 



Pears should be taken from the tree before they become mellow 

 but not before they attain their full growth, which may be determined 

 by the ease with which they separate from the twig when taken in 

 the hand and turned bottom upwards. 



Peaches for a home market should be permitted to attain their full 

 size and color, and sufficiently ripe for immediate use, but for shipment 

 should be taken from the tree as soon as they have made their full 

 growth, but befoie they become mellow. 



Plums should be harvested as soon as they begin to color, because 

 when removed from the tree they mature and color very rapidly, and 

 if too ripe will decay before they reach the consumer. 



The time to market apples varies with the class of fruit produced, 

 as the summer and fall varieties must be marketed as soon as they ma- 

 ture, otherwise they will decay and prove a total loss, while such varie- 

 ties as Ben Davis, Jonathan, Huntsman, Willow Twig and that class of 

 fine or showy fruit should be disposed of during the first half of De- 

 cember, so as to enable them to reach the various consuming markets 

 before the holidays, because at that time they always sell for better 

 prices than at any other time, but the Jennet should be held until the 

 latter part of January or first of February to insure the best results- 

 The latter is one of the best, and, if properly handled, one of the best 

 paying apples on the whole list, but one that usually pays the producer 

 less than almost any other variety. 



The reason for this is the anxiety of the grower to realize upon his 

 crop, forcing such a great quantity of them upon the market in the fall 

 before they are fit for use, and at a time when there are< so many more 

 mature and showy varieties to be obtained, they must of necessity be 



