STATE HORTICULTrRAL SOCIETY. 27 



FOE MAEKET. 



Thfere is more money in the Crescent seedling than any other 

 variety that has been thoroughly tested. Xext to the Crescent, 

 upon strong soils, stands the Wilson, then Downer's Prolific. 



For a profitable plantation of Crescents, it is best to use two 

 or more varieties for fertilizing, say the old Ironclad, Wilson, 

 Captain Jack, James Tick, or Glendale. 



In making the plantation, I usually set one row of perfect 

 flowering, two to three of Crescents, one of perfect flowering, 

 and so on until the bed is full. The experience of the present 

 season has shown that some varieties resist drought better than 

 others. Upon my place I find a new variety called the Hintgen 

 Seedling to stand the best; James Tick, second: Crescent, third; 

 Wilson, fourth. 



HAEVESTING AND MAEKETIXG. 



The strawberry harvest makes a busy time, and no other fruit 

 so liushes the grower, or allows so little rest at night or day 

 while they last. After the berries begin to ripen rapidly they 

 should be picked every day. and care taken that no ripe fruit is 

 left upon the vines to work into the next picking and mould or 

 sour the package. 



I have never found the common practice of having the berries 

 picked for a rate per quart to prove entirely satisfactory. The 

 expert picker will frequently make from two to three dollars per 

 day in the busy season, and then quit work as the berries become 

 thin. This tends to demoralize all of the pickers engaged, and 

 not unfrequently causes a strike or the acceding to demands that 

 are ruinous to the grower. The best plan, in my opinion, is to 

 engage enough pickers some time before they are wanted, agree- 

 ing to pay a certain per cent of the price weekly, retaining a 

 portion of the compensation to be forfeited by those who do not 

 remain the season through. Another good method would be to 

 pay a certain sum per hour or day of not exceeding eight hours. 

 Whatever method of employing pickers is adopted, every 

 grower should have a set of printed rules, of whi*h each picker 

 should be furnished a copy, and every picker violating the rules 

 should be discharged at once and kept from the field. 



Women make the best and quickest pickers, girls next, and 

 boys next] old men the poorest of all. It is well to have a fore- 



