CHAPTER XXIX. 



PICKING AND MARKETING. 



IN the proceedings of the New Jersey State Horticultural 

 Society, I find the following interesting-paper from the 

 pen of Mr. C. W. Idell, a commission merchant, whose intel- 

 ligent interest in fruits extends beyond their current price. 

 He gives so graphic a picture of the diminutive beginning of 

 small fmit growing and marketing, that I am led to quote 

 freely : — 



*' About the earliest knowledge I could obtain of the straw- 

 berry in our State is that it first grew wild in many regions, par- 

 ticularly in the county of Bergen. The negroes were the first 

 to pick this fruit for the New York market, and invented those 

 quaint old-fashioned splint baskets, v/ith handles, that were and 

 are still in use in that county. These berries were taken to 

 New York, the baskets being strung on poles, and thus peddled 

 through the city. I would state, for the benefit of those who 

 have not seen these baskets, that it was the intention of the 

 original makers of them to have them contain a half-p'nt each, 

 but soon they became so reduced in size that each buyer was 

 compelled to guess at the contents of those he bought. 



"Just when cultivated berries made their appearance, I am 

 unable to say, but I am inclined to think they were derived from 

 seedlings of the wild fruit. From the information I have gath- 

 ered, I think that the cultivation of the fruit for the market orig- 

 inated in the vicinity of Hackensack, Bergen county, and from 

 there spread over the State. As there were no railroads in 



