180 



MR. WlilTCOMB of Amherst : In regard to the pack- 

 age, shipping in the pint boxes. Is that the way they are 

 shipped? 



MR. WHITCOMB: When we began, I think the first 

 ones were shipped in quarts. That was all there was then. 

 For the last 15 or 20 years we have shipped wholly in the 

 oblong pints. That has, to us, been most satisfactory packing. 

 In picking, in order to carry these pints, we make a tray, 

 out of orange boxes, with a handle in the middle. It will 

 hold some 10 or 12 pints,— five or six on each side of the 

 division. "We have tried them with legs, thinking they 

 could be handled better in the field, but pickers fall over 

 them, and when carried into the packing shed, they were 

 in the way, and we lost more than we gained. 



Another thing in picking: I have always had to cau- 

 tion the pickers a good deal — and said: "You notice that 

 each raspberry has a hole in it. That hole is the only profit 

 I get. If you crush that hole, you spoil my profit." 



MR. WHITCOIVIB of Amherst: Do you find that you 

 do not have to support the Cuthbert any? That is, the Cuth- 

 bert is the one variety that needs the most support. We 

 have to wire them. 



MR. WHITCOIMB : I think we wired one field. But I 

 want them all spread out. If you wire them up close, you 

 keep the sun out and don't gipe them a good chance. If 

 you have good strong canes and have cut them down to 

 about four feet or three feet and a half, they will stand up 

 pretty straight until they come to bear. Then gradually 

 reach out, very few getting into the dirt, and in picking time, 

 if you have a good growth of berries, you will have a row 

 there at the top that is as wide across as you can reach, and 

 have berries all through it; but if you have them wired in 

 tight, you get a few berries on each outside edge, but not 

 in the middle, and the fruit is dry and blasted, not having a 

 chance to mature. 



In regard to the time of picking, we have always picked 

 our berries Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. We haven't 



