102 CALSTOCK AND ST. DOMINICK 



on a holding of such poor land and in such an 

 exposed position that not many larger farmers 

 would think it worth cultivating at the rent he was 

 paying. 



Local Industries in Connection with Small 

 Holdings. 



The making of punnets, the small baskets in 

 which the fruit is packed, has developed into quite 

 an important local industry. At the instigation of 

 the principal fruit-grower, who experienced a diffi- 

 culty in getting adequate supplies of baskets, a 

 Plymouth timber-merchant was induced to set up 

 a factory in the neighbourhood. The wood is 

 prepared and tied up for sale to the cottagers, who 

 manufacture the cases and punnets during the 

 winter season, the work being largely done by the 

 wives and children. The quantity of timber sold 

 for this purpose last year amounted to 500. The 

 manufacture of a gross is considered a day's work 

 in weaving the punnets, which are constructed 

 from the shavings of the timber. The retail price 

 is 2s. 3d. a gross, about Is. 2d. being the remunera- 

 tion for the labour. Some idea of the quantity 

 required can be gauged from the fact that on one 

 holding of 30 acres, of which part only was planted 

 with strawberries, 3,000 punnets of this fruit have 

 been gathered and sent off in a day. 



