166 Strawberry-Groicing 



the work with gossip and repartee, provided they do not 

 play. Pickers require constant supervision; one field 

 overseer cannot look after more than forty pickers. It 

 must be expected that the pickers will eat some berries. 

 The sharp eyes of a field overseer are the best corrective of 

 excess. 



The pickers should start in on the side of the field 

 farthest from the packing shed and work toward it. If 

 the field is very large, divide it into sections by setting 

 one or more lines of stakes across the rows ; pickers like 

 short rows, and it is easier to look after them if they are 

 close together. When the plants are trained in hills or 

 narrow rows, let each picker have a separate row; wide 

 matted rows may be picked to best advantage by starting 

 a picker between each two rows and requiring her to pick 

 one-half of each. Assign rows according to the ca- 

 pacity of the picker. The field foreman must be certain 

 that each picker cleans the row that has been assigned to 

 her; some may slip over to rows that seem to promise 

 better picking. See that they do not tramp or loll on 

 the vines or walk crossways of the rows. The pickers 

 are obliged to move so frequently that no seat is practi- 

 cable, although several types of "pickers chariots" have 

 been introduced. Large berries should be placed in the 

 box singly, medium berries by small handfuls, aU so gently 

 that there is no sound. Do not pour berries from one 

 hand to the other. 



Most growers require each picker to bring the carrier 

 of full boxes to the packing shed ; there is less chance of 

 mixing the berries from different pickers, poor picking 

 can be detected and pointed out at once, and the picker 

 is relieved from her cramped position for a short time. 

 When this is done, it is desirable that each row be num- 



