STRAWBERRY. 231 



sexual kind. The objection to this way in practice is that the pistil- 

 late kinds, being often the strongest growers, may soon crowd 

 out the weaker variety; and then, again, when this plan is fol- 

 lowed, the plants when taken up are so hopelessly mixed as to 

 be worthless for setting a new bed. 



Dry berries, "Nubbins." Sometimes the berries fail to fill 

 out evenly all over, or are small and mostly dry and hard, or one- 

 sided. This may result from the pistils, or a part of them, being 

 injured by frosts, dry wind, or an unusually severe rain or hail 

 storm which, by destroying the delicate pistils, prevents the 

 formation of seed and the development of the part adjoining, for 

 it has been conclusively proven that unless the seeds are per- 

 fected the fleshy part near them does not fill out. Sometimes 

 the blossoms are stung by a snout-beetle and then they hardly 

 form berries at all. Nubbins are also caused by winter injury 

 which weakens the plants to such an extent that apparently they 

 are not strong enough to fill out the fruit. Imperfect pollination 

 may also cause nubbins. 



Picking and marketing. If the berries are to be sold great 

 care should be taken to have them carefully picked. Green ber- 

 ries are bad enough to have in a box, if they are to be shipped, 

 but overripe berries will cause much more trouble for they are 

 sure to decay before they reach their destination and damage 

 all the good fruit. On this account the beds should be picked 

 clean every day in warm weather. The pickers will need care- 

 ful watching so as to be sure they do not put poor berries in 

 the bottom of the boxes, and that they pick all the ripe berries 

 so none will be left to get overripe. It is always desirable to 

 pick fruit, that is to be shipped, in the cool of the day unless it 

 should be wet. Sorting and grading the berries after they have 

 been picked will be found necessary if a strictly first class prod- 

 uct is desired, and will often pay if the general average of the 

 fruit is large. 



Gift packages holding twenty-four boxes are almost universal- 

 ly used for shipping strawberries in the Western states, while 

 in some of the Eastern states the return package is still popular. 

 The latter cost about twenty-five cents per crate, including boxes 

 and cover. They are always made so there is room to heap up th 

 boxes and to allow a circulation of air through them. 



