232 MANUAL OF AMERICAN GRAPE-GROWING 



texture of the pulp and a slight thickening of the juice so that 

 it is more or less sticky ; fourth, tiie ends of the stems turn 

 from green to brown ; fifth, the berries pull more readily from 

 their stems; sixth, the seeds are free or more nearly free from 

 the pulp and usually turn from green to brown. 



Picking appliances. 



But few appliances are needed in picking grapes. Shears 

 are a necessity. These are of special make and can be bought 

 from dealers in liorticultural supplies, costing from 75 cents to 

 SI. Some growers, after ])icking, pack the fruit in the field 

 in the receptacles in wliich it is to go to market. The greater 

 number, however, pick in trays which are taken to the packing- 

 house and allowed to stand until tlie fruit is wilted before 

 packing for shipment. Trays ma> be of several sizes and 

 shapes, but are usnall\' shallow flats holding from twenty-five 

 to thirty-five pounds. The j)icked fruit is taken from the vine- 

 yard to the packing-shed in a wagon with flexible springs to 

 prevent jarring and jolting. Large growers usually have 

 specially built one-horse platform wagons, the front wheels of 

 which pass under the platform. 



Picking accDiuits. 



It is no small matter to keep a picking account with pickers. 

 Business-like growers use one of several kinds of tickets or tags 

 in keeping accounts, l^robably the most common method is to 

 give a ticket to the ])ickcr when the receptacle of grapes is 

 delivered, the grower either keeping half of the original or a 

 duplicate of it. Objections to ticket systems are that the 

 pickers often lose the tickets, are irregular in returning them, 

 or exchange them with other pickers. To obviate the dis- 

 advantages of tickets, some growers use tags which bear the 

 picker's name and arc attached to his person. These tags 

 have marginal nuinbcrs or divisions which are canceled by a 



