GATHERING THE FRUIT. 059 



leaves a ridge between the rows, which I can level by using an 

 ordinary cultivator. Instead of taking a narrow strip from 

 each side of the row, I take all from one side. By this plan 

 nearly all of the plants left in the row are only one year old. 

 I cultivate well until the new plants are ready to root, then I 

 allow them to fill the space between the rows, not too thick, 

 however. In the Spring I cut out the old row, if there are 

 enough new plants for a crop, and use the place occupied by 

 it for the pickers to pass through while picking. Should the 

 row left to renew the bed fail to furnish enough new plants for 

 a crop of fruit, I save it with a strip of the new plants on each 

 side. 



Unless the soil is very fertile, fine manure, free from grass 

 seed, should be scattered on the bed freely after it has been 

 well cultivated the first time, or early in the Fall. For gar- 

 den culture I use the same plan as for the field, except to thin 

 the plants. I use a hoe and a spading-fork to loosen the soil. 



GATHERING THE FRUIT. 



It is very important to have a good supply of packages 

 made up ready for use before the berries are ripe. I divide the 

 beds so as to pick half every day, except Saturdays, when I 

 pick all that are ripe, in order to get over Sunday without 

 having over-ripe berries for Monday. One person who has 

 had experience, with a boy to assist him, can attend to fifteen 

 to twenty pickers and case the berries, by adopting the follow- 

 ing plan : Take cases filled with empty boxes into the field, 

 also four to six hand-racks, made so that about eight quart 

 boxes can be carried in each. Give each picker a row and a 

 box, with instructions to pick the berries by pinching off the 

 stem of the berry, about one-third of an inch from the hull, 

 using great care not to loosen the hull or bruise the berry, and 

 giving orders that they never put over-ripe or too green ber- 

 ries in the box. As soon as the pickers are all at work, give 

 the one that is to assist two hand-racks filled with empty 

 boxes, and tickets that can not be duplicated by the pickers. 

 Then when they get their boxes full he can take the full box, 



