HARD TO GET PICKERS 



GROWERS of small fruit generally 

 find considerable difficulty each year 

 in handling the crop. This is the case in 

 most sections this season. The trouble was 

 not very great with the strawberry crop, 

 which was light in many districts, but now 

 the respberries are in the trouble has begun. 

 Growers have to use different methods to 

 secure pickers, and many of these methods 

 are far from satisfactory. 



While talking to .a representative of The 

 Canadian Horticulturist who visited his 

 place recently, Mr. W. Walker, of Grims- 

 by, said : " It is very difficult to get pick- 

 ers — in fact, we can't get good ones. Some 

 growers bring in Indians from Caledonia, 

 but perhaps they only stay at one place for 

 a day or so. They are unsettled and some- 

 times other growers coax them away. I 

 hope to get all my crop harvested without 

 experiencing any serious loss, as I have the 

 promise of about 40 pickers for odd days. 



" The cost of harvesting a crop of berries 

 often comes pretty high. We have to sup- 



ply shanties or cottages for them after pay- 

 ing their fares on the train or car. Of 

 course they board themselves. Some grow- 

 ers give a reliable woman 50 cents a day ex- 

 tra to oversee the job and secure pickers. 

 The usual price paid for picking ranges 

 from one cent to a cent and a half per box, 

 depending on the variety." 



" We simply have to do the best we can 

 in getting pickers," said Mr. J. M. Metcalf, 

 of Grimsby. " We can get a few from 

 surrounding villages. A good plan is to 

 go back on the mountain and bring down a 

 load of farmers to help out. We pay one 

 and a half cents per box for picking black 

 and red raspberries and one cent for thim- 

 ble berries." 



" It is going to be a serious problem," 

 said Mr. E. D. Smith, of Winona, " to get 

 pickers this season. It is now some years 

 since we had a heavy crop of raspberries. 

 I suppose the best plan will be to make con- 

 tracts for the berry season with a number 

 of Indians from the reserve." 



STRAWBERRIES FOR THE WEST 



ONTARIO strawberry growers, it is 

 the conviction of Mr. Alex. McNeill, 

 chief of the Dominion fruit division, who 

 has recently returned from a trip to the 

 Pacific coast, will have to use more care in 

 the growing and shipment of their fruit if 

 they ever expect to build up a profitable 

 trade with Winnipeg and western points. 

 " When I was in Winnipeg in July," said 

 Mr. McNeill to The Horticulturist, " straw- 

 berries from points in British Columbia 

 were meeting with a ready sale. I asked 

 one of the commission dealers how it was 

 he did not sell Ontario fruit, and found he 

 was a man with a grievance as far as On- 

 tario fruit was concerned. 



" This merchant informed me that he had 

 ordered a car of Ontario berries to be de- 

 livered on Thursday, July 29. He showed 



me a telegram he had received stating that 

 the fruit would not be delivered to him un- 

 til Friday, and another telegram stating it 

 would not reach him until Saturday, and 

 finally a third telegram stating that the On- 

 tario shipper would not be able to let him 

 have the fruit at all. This promise to ship 

 the fruit and the breaking of it had caused 

 the merchant great loss, as he had relied 

 upon receiving this car of fruit to fill his 

 local demand and had been putting off his 

 customers in expectation of the arrival of 

 the fruit. 



" I presume that the trouble with the On- 

 tario shipper," continued Mr. McNeill, 

 " was that he was unable to make proper ar- 

 rangements for securing the fruit. The 

 trouble in Ontario is that very little fruit is 

 grown for export, as all that is shipped to 



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