PACKING AND MARKETING FRUIT STRAWBERRIES. 



333 



Pig. 79. PUNNET OF STRAWBERRIES. 



any otner. Advantage, therefore, should be taken of every fine day when the fruit is 

 perfectly dry to gather all that are coloured. They should, however, be all of the same 

 degree of ripeness, for unripe and over-ripe, as well as faulty fruit equally spoil the 

 samples. 



Strawberries. The fruit should be gathered as soon as it becomes red and perfectly 

 dry, ihe deAv having passed off. This is the best plan, for strawberries gathered 

 when damp do not have a rich, glossy 

 appearance when they reach the market, 

 and wet fruit is not good for preserving 

 purposes. In large cultures picking, 

 however, is done very early in the morn- 

 ing, and necessitates a good supply of 

 labour, as 6,000 pecks of 12 poun Is 

 each have been picked from a farm in 

 one day. The pickers are paid at the 

 rate of 5d. a peck, and have to be out 

 by 3 o'clock in the morning to get the first supplies for the early trains. Women pack 

 the fruit for dessert in punnets, about 6 inches in diameter and 2 inches deep, for early 

 and fine fruits, but for later pickings punnets known as "deep pounds" are preferred. 

 A few leaves should be placed in the bottom and around the sides of the punnet, the 



strawberries packed in it 

 attractively, but without 

 recourse to the deceptive 

 practice of topping with 

 extra fine fruit while that 

 beneath is inferior. A pun- 

 net of strawberries properly 

 packed is shown in Fig. 79. 

 No small, damaged, or decayed fruit should be packed with the good. Each punnet 

 must contain the exact weight of strawberries stated whether \ pound or 1 pound. 

 The punnets are placed in deal boxes, holding five dozen, a dozen punnets being placed 

 in a tier, as shown in Fig. 80, and the several tiers are supported on movable bottoms 

 resting on strips nailed on the sides of the box. The fruit must not be piled above 

 the edge of the punnets. Some growers use boxes 34 inches long, 21 inches wide, and 



Fig. 80. PACKINO PUNNETS OP STRAWBERRIES. 



