170 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



grown than any other, but the Rea and Champion, more re- 

 cent introductions, are preferred hy some growers. 



The profitable growing of the small fruits depends more 

 upon location than the tree fruits. They are gathered in 

 the warmest season of the year, are tender and more liable 

 to injury in transportation. They require more care in their 

 cultivation, but they are more immediate in their returns, 

 and may be grown successfully and profital)ly in connection 

 with the larger fruits. 



The strawl)erry is the most extensively cultivated of any 

 of the small fruits. It requires deep, rich, moist soil, 

 highly fertilized, and clean culture, for the best results. The 

 growers having adopted substantially the same methods for 

 ofrowino; this fruit — that is, in matted beds — there is not 

 so much chance for improvement in growing as in picking 

 and preparing it for market. There is no work done on the 

 farm that pays better for the employment of adult skilled 

 labor than picking and preparing strawberries for market. 

 The results of the practice of different growers is seen in 

 the Boston market every day during the strawberry season. 

 It is the practice of many growers in the outlying towns to 

 employ children to pick this fruit. They pick through the 

 heat of the day, pulling the fruit from the vines when soft, 

 often breaking the flesh, causing it to bleed, and the fruit is 

 sent at night to market to be sold the next day in competi- 

 tion with the fruit from the liest growers near the city, who 

 employ experienced adult help and pick the fruit between 4 

 and 9 o'clock in the morning and 4 and 8 o'clock in the even- 

 ing, nipping off the fruit by the stems, hardly touching it 

 with the hand, and placing it carefully in the basket. The 

 morning's picking is sent immediately to market, and so del- 

 icate and sensitive is this fruit that the morning's picking 

 will bring more in the market than that picked in the even- 

 ing and kept as carefully and cool as possible over night. 

 The fruit thus carefully picked and prepared for market has 

 averaged the growers twenty-five cents per basket, while the 

 fruit from the outlying towns has sold from eight to twelve 

 cents per basket. A near market is desirable, but not indis- 

 pensable to success, in growing the strawberry. This fruit 

 varies so much in diflerent soils that it is impossible to give 



