60 FRUIT-GROWER, ST. JOSEPH, MO. 



sort, and allow them to ripen fully on the vines, they 

 are one of the favorite fruits in the markets. 



Currants have a better standing in this country, 

 being used largely for jelly, and even for dessert by 

 some enterprising housewives. Currants, too, are 

 usually marketed in quart boxes, and are therefore 

 usually shipped in crates like strawberries. Some- 

 times, however, they are shipped in 3-lb. or 5-lb. 

 Climax baskets with handles, such as are used for 

 grapes. This is an excellent package, if the fruit is 

 firm enough to bear shipment without crushing. In 

 local markets currants 'are sold in all sorts of pack- 

 ages, and in fact are often dealt out in bulk without 

 any package at all. This method is not to be recom- 

 mended in any case. If the currants are worth sell- 

 ing they are worth handling well. 



Grapes 



There are a great many different kinds of grapes 

 grown in this country, but for commercial purposes 

 the Concord may be considered the type of them all, 

 and it also furnishes a large majority of the crop 

 annually sent to market. Grapes grown under glass 

 have to be handled very differently, but they are so 

 seldom grown and marketed in America that we may 

 fairly disregard them in this article. 



In ripening the fruit, very different matters have 

 to be considered in different parts of the country, and 

 with different varieties. In the southwestern states 

 care has to be taken that the fruit is not cooked on 

 the vines, or not prematurely .ripened by the exces- 

 sive hot sun. In the northern states every effort has 

 to be made to secure all the sunlight and heat pos- 

 sible. In some cases grapes fail to ripen altogether 

 for lack of sufficient heat. Different varieties differ 

 greatly in this respect'. Catawba, for example, re- 

 quires much more heat to ripen thoroughly than 



