The Canadian Horticulturist. ^ 45 



Harvesting. — The means of gathering the crop is one of the most important 

 considerations in growing small fruits, and, as before intimated, upon the success 

 of the berry harvester depends the adaptabiHty of raspberries as a farm crop. 

 This harvester is a very simple affair (see Fig. 418) consisting of a canvas tray 

 some three feet square, there being only enough wood about it to form a frame- 

 work and enable it to be moved about. 



Under the corner which rests on the ground, there is a sort of a shoe of 

 wood, enabling it to be slid along from bush to bush easily. In one hand the 

 operator carries a large wire hook, with which the bushes are drawn over the 

 canvas, or lifted up if too low down and in the way. In the other hand is a 

 bat resembling a lawn tennis racquet, with which he knocks off the ripe berries. 

 This is merely a canvas-covered loop of heavy wire fastened in a convenient 

 handle. In place of this, some use a wooden paddle, but this probably bruises 

 the berries unnecessarily. In gathering by this method, the berries are allowed 

 to become pretty ripe, and the plantation is gone over but two or three times in 

 a season. Many dry leaves, some stems and a few green berries are knocked off 

 with the fruit, but the leaves are no disadvantage, for they help to absorb 

 moisture before and after drying, and may aid in preventing mold if the fruit 

 has to stand some time before going to the evaporator. The leaves are quickly 

 taken out by running the fruit through a fanning mill after it is dried. Some 

 growers fan them out before drying, but this has the disadvantage of bruising 

 and crushing more berries. The berries are usually allowed to stand in the 

 field in boxes for a time after gathering, and any insects, which may have fallen 

 in will usually crawl out and disappear. 



(Growers who have had much experience say that a man will average eight 

 to ten bushels a day with the harvester, although much more can be gathered 

 in the best picking. On one farm visited last year, two men and two girls had 

 gathered thirty-one bushels the day previous in ordinary picking, and one of the 

 men had been in the field only part of the time. This shows the first cost of 

 gathering to be less than half a cent per quart. Running them through the 

 fanning mill costs but a trifle ; then before marketing they are picked over by 

 hand to remove stems, green berries and other litter. This does not cost over 

 one cent a pound, and is sornetimes paid for by the pound at that rate, so that 

 the whole cost may be placed at one cent a quart, as against two cents usually 

 paid for hand-picking. Growers who have had experience with both methods 

 seem to be united in the opinion that harvesting yields a better quality of dried 

 fruit than hand-picking, for the reason that, if picked by hand, they cannot afford 

 to look them over again after drying, and so they do not go to market in as 

 clean and nice condition as those which come from the harvester. 



Some extensive and general fruit growers find it inconvenient to attend to 

 the matter of looking over the dried product at the same time that other fruits, 

 which follow on after the raspberries, are claiming their atttntion, and for that 



