THE PICKING OF BLUEBEEEIES. 13 



The size of the seed gives the buyer in New Enghmd markets very 

 little concern, for there the name blueberry is restricted to plants of 

 the genus Vaccinium, all of which have seeds so small as to be unno- 

 ticeable when the berry is eaten, while the name huckleberry is applied 

 with nearly the same precision to the species of the genus Gaj'lus- 

 sacia, in wliich the seed is surrounded b}^ a bony covering like a 

 minute peach pit, which crackles between the teeth. In southern cities 

 the fruits of both Vaccinium and Gaylussacia are called huckleberries, 

 and it is i^robable that the low estimation in which the fruit of Vac- 

 cinium is there held is largely due to the lack of a distinctive popular 

 name. To distinguish the two berries by their appearance is difficult 

 for any but an expert, for while huckleberries are mostly black and 

 blueberries mostly blue, some of the blueberries, or species of Vac- 

 cinium, are black, and some of the huckleberries are blue, notably 

 Gaylussacia frondosa., a species often abundant in the sandy soils of 

 the Atlantic Coastal Plain, which has a large, handsome berry of a 

 beautiful light-blue color and passable flavor, but with the disagree- 

 ably crackling seed pits characteristic of the other true huckleberries. 



The blueberry withstands the rough treatment incident to ship- 

 ment so much better than most other berries that with proper han- 

 dling it should always reach the market in first-class condition. 

 But its good shipping qualities are often abused, and the fruit not 

 infrequently is exposed for sale partly crushed and the berries cov- 

 ered with soured juice and made further olfensive by the presence of 

 flies. This is the prevailing condition of blueberries and huckle- 

 berries in the markets of Washington, in striking contrast with the 

 dry, plump berries of the Boston market. This bad condition is due 

 usually to improper picking. 



The small size of the blueberry, compared with other berries, ren- 

 ders the picking of it expensive. The owners of blueberry pastures 

 commonly pay two-thirds the net price of the berries to their pickers. 

 In order to reduce the cost of picking, various devices have been 

 employed. The most widely used of these is an implement known 

 as a blueberry rake, a scoop shaped somewhat like a deep dustpan, 

 provided in front with a series of long, pointed fingers of heavy wire. 

 With this implement an ordinary picker in the blueberry canning 

 districts of Maine, for example, gathers 3 to 5 bushels a day, for 

 which he receives If to 2 cents per quart. Blueberries can be picked 

 with a rake at about a fourth the cost of picking by hand. For this 

 reason many of the berries that go to market are picked with a 

 rake, and it is these berries Avhich, broken and fermenting, make 

 up the greater part of the low-grade stock so otfensive to the eye 

 and the taste. Blueberries intended for the market should never be 

 picked with a rake. 



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