58 FRUIT-GROWER, ST. JOSEPH, MO. 



60 quarts. The intermediate sizes are most in de- 

 mand. For fancy fruit or long shipments preference 

 is usually given to the smaller crates, though this 

 preference is not without exception. Some growers 

 of great experience say that the 60-qt. crate is best 

 for -express shipping; and the reason given is that, 

 while an express messenger can throw a 24-qt. 

 crate half way across the platform, it requires two 

 men to lift a 60-qt. crate. The heavy package there- 

 fore gets the most careful handling. 



Strawberries are largely shipped to commission 

 merchants, just as other fruits are consigned. The 

 very perishable nature of the fruit, however, makes 

 this method risky, so that as many growers as can 

 do so prefer to depend on private agents or to sell 

 direct to some buyer. In the large strawberry cen- 

 ters, like Ridgley, Md., or Oswego, N. Y., buyers 

 always appear in numbers and bid for the crop as it 

 is hauled to the railroad stations by the growers. 

 Sometimes one method is best for the grower; some- 

 times another is. It all depends. The only gener- 

 alization which can fairly be made is that this deli- 

 cate fruit should be handled as promptly as possible 

 and with the least possible hitch between grower and 

 consumer. For this reason direct retail sales must 

 always be the most satisfactory way of handling 

 strawberries; and the best growers will always seek 

 this method of sale, or will come as near to it as 

 their curcumstances will allow. 



The prices realized for the fruit vary immensely 

 perhaps more than with any other kind of fruit. 

 Hothouse berries often bring $1 a quart sometimes 

 twice or three times that much. The first berries 

 from Florida nearly always sell in northern markets 

 at 50 cents a quart and upwards. On the other hand, 

 growers in Maryland and Delaware at the rush sea- 

 son, are sometimes compelled to accept 3 to 5 cents 



