PREPARATION FOR GATHERING FRUIT. 267 



these in two pieces, so that it is reversible and may be 

 opened at either top or bottom. Patented and made by 

 J. B. Smith, Ansonia, Conn. Boxes to hold 5 Ibs. of 

 grapes, in the flat, nails included, for $60 per 1000. 



GATHERING FRUIT. 



In sections where the small fruits are grown extensive- 

 ly, women and children are chiefly employed to gather 

 them, being paid so much per basket. 



The small Jersey Strawberries are generally pulled, as 

 it is called, or separated from the calyx, or hull, when 

 picked; with the larger kinds it is left on. The price 

 paid for picking varies from seventy-five cents to one dol- 

 lar twenty-five cents per hundred for the small baskets, 

 and three to five cents per quart for the larger Strawber- 

 ries, Raspberries and Blackberries. At these prices, an 

 expert hand will make two to three dollars per day 

 where the fruit is abundant. 



The fruit should always be gathered in dry weather, 

 and none should be picked in the morning while the dew 

 is on. 



The usual method practiced in the larger plantations is 

 something like the following : 



A tent or temporary shed is erected in or near the field 

 in which the fruit is grown, and the superintendent remains 

 in this and takes charge of the fruit as it is brought in, 

 giving each picker a ticket, stating the number of baskets 

 brought in. When one or two hundred baskets are gath- 

 ered, then the small tickets are taken up and a large one 

 given, on which is printed good for one, two, or more 

 dollars, as the case may be. These tickets are redeemed 

 at the end of the week, provided the holder retains them 

 until that time ; but with some a week is a very long time 

 to keep a promise to pay, and they sel! 4 them. In some 

 portions of New Jersey, and perhaps elsewhere, these 



