38 



measure, into which they empty the contents of the machine. 

 Those using the larger scoop have bushel boxes, which, when 

 filled, are taken to the storage or packing houses. After picking, 

 the fruit is run through winnowing or separating machines. These 

 have a blower or fan to remove the light dirt, with either a tightly 

 drawn belt upon which the sound fruit bounds, or a set of little 

 inclined shelves over which it falls, the good fruit going to one 

 receptacle and the defective to othex's. The patterns now in general 

 use are the "Economist" and the " Middlesex." 



After passing through these machines most fruit will have to be 

 examined by the practised eye and nimble fingers of women, known 

 as screeners. For this purpose the fruit is placed in long screens 

 or racks, from which the remaining defective berries are picked by 

 hand. These screens have slatted bottoms, through which the 

 very small berries drop ; they are about four and one-half feet 

 wide at the upper end, tapering to one foot, and about eight feet 

 long, with sides six inches high. The wide end is raised three or 

 four inches above the narrow end, which is placed over the barrel 

 or package in which they are to be shipped. About this screen 

 three or four women stand, removing the defective berries. Un- 

 less the fruit is very badly decayed, this number with a man to 

 move the fruit, will usually pack from fifteen to thirty barrels per 

 day. 



The bulk of the crop is marketed in barrels holding one hundred 

 quarts, which are manufactured expressly for this fruit and cost 

 about thirty-five cents each. Some of the markets call for a pack- 

 age holding only a bushel, for which a slat box is manufactured, 

 to contain that quantity, with a partition through the centre. 



By the use of the improved gathering and assorting machines, 

 the cost of harvesting has been reduced from $3.50 to $4.50 in 

 1875 to from $1 to $2 per barrel the present season. If the grower 

 is unfortunate enough to have any fruit not gathered when a white 

 frost occurs, the berries will be more or less affected, which will 

 add quite a little to the cost of harvesting. 



The smaller growers dispose of their crop through commission 

 houses in the large cities of New England and the middle States, 

 while the large growers sell in car lots, a large part of their crop 

 going direct to the western, southern and Pacific coast cities. 



While I would not encourage indiscriminate planting of the crop, 

 I believe under favorable circumstances and good management it 

 is the most profitable crop grown in south-eastern Massachusetts. 



