PICKING. 305 



motive to thwart your purpose ; one and a half to two cents 

 per quart is the usual price. Have two styles of tickets, 

 red and blue, for instance ; the red having a higher value 

 and being given to those who bring the berries to the place 

 of packing in good order, according to rule ; let the bas- 

 kets not picked in conformity to the rules be receipted for 

 with the blue tickets. Receiving many of the latter soon 

 becomes a kind of disgrace, and thus you appeal to the prin- 

 ciple of self-respect as well as self-interest. Get rid of those 

 who persist in careless picking as soon as possible. Insist 

 that the baskets be full and rounded up, and the fruit equal 

 in quality down to the bottom. As far as possible, let the 

 hulls be do^\^l out of sight, and only the fruit showing. If 

 you have berries that are extra fine, it will pay you to pick 

 and pack them yourself, or have some one to do it who can 

 be depended upon. Do not pick the fruit, if you can help 

 it, when it is wet with dew or rain ; still, there are times 

 when this must be done to save it. Never let the baskets 

 or crates stand long in the sun and wind, as the berries so 

 treated soon become dull and faded. As soon as a crate 

 is filled, put it under cover in a cool place till shipped to 

 market. As far as possible, insist upon careful, gende 

 handling. 



Raspberries should be treated with even greater care than 

 strawberries, since they are softer and more perishable. 

 They should never be put into anything larger than a pint 

 basket, while thirds of a quart and half-pints are much bet- 

 ter. Round half-pints seem to be coming into favor. There 

 is a wide, shallow basket made in Rochester, that some grow- 

 ers think highly of. With most varieties of raspberries, if 

 any considerable number are placed together they soon be- 

 come a soft, moldy mass. The ideal raspberry basket, there- 

 fore, is small, open, and shallow ; and the crates should per- 



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