78 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING 



a box for picking strawberries, other places 

 pay two cents, and in a great many districts 

 one and one half cents is paid. From care- 

 fully worked out figures the latter amount 

 is the average price for picking in the many 

 strawberry sections. Pay day comes at 

 the end of the season as a rule, as the pickers 

 are retained better by paying but once; or, 

 if paid weekly, one quarter to one half the 

 pay is retained. 



The average picker, in my experience, will 

 pick from thirty to forty quarts in the morn- 

 ing — that is, from 9 to 12 o'clock. One 

 report from New Hampshire states that a 

 young woman of sixteen picked one hundred 

 quarts in six hours. 



PACKING 



As the full boxes are brought from the field, 

 they are given to the packers. The packers 

 should not be in the full sunlight, but in 

 the shade of a tree, under a tent or tem- 

 porary building, or in a permanent build- 

 ing. The strawberries when received should 

 be placed in a cool room where the tem- 

 perature can be held at 50 degrees, or, in 

 case this is not possible, they should be 



