Picking and Packing 159 



berries on the vines. This is a personal problem in ethics, 

 not in horticulture; it is as likely to be settled by the 

 appeal of conscience as by the urgency of the need. We 

 can appreciate the ingenuity, if not the ethics, of the 

 strict Sabbatarian who hired Seventh Day Adventists, 

 whose Sabbath falls on Saturday, to pick his berries on 

 Sunday. In most cases — to venture a purely personal 

 opinion — the loss of berries from not picking on Sunday 

 is small compared with the loss in other respects. If 

 Sunday picking is practiced, it should be optional for the 

 pickers; if not, provision should be made for a larger 

 force of pickers on Monday, and special care in grading 

 is necessary to eliminate the over-ripe berries. 



Time of day to pick. 



Strawberries are picked preferably in early morning, 

 because they are injured by standing in the sun after 

 picking ; because they ship better if picked when cool and 

 firm ; because it is a more comfortable time of the day 

 for the pickers to work; and, if the market is near, be- 

 cause the berries can be shipped and sold the same day. 

 Whole train-loads leave points in Sussex County, Dela- 

 ware, for New York, Philadelphia and Boston, before 

 eight o'clock; these berries were picked the same morn- 

 ing. If shipping in refrigerator cars, early morning pick- 

 ing is not so essential. The only objection to picking 

 very early is that the berries may be wet with dew. 

 Divergent opinions are held as to whether this injures 

 their shipping qualities. Berries picked while wet go 

 down quicker in cold storage than those picked while 

 dry.^ Probably it is safer to wait until the sun has dried 

 the dew, provided all the berries can be picked before it 



1 Bui. 108, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Dept. of Agr. (1907). 



