105 



•ihe plant is not strong enough to carry out so many berries Ut 

 a suitable size. In regard to mulching and covering, I use pine 

 JeaACS (tassels) from the forests, the cost of which is the labor 

 of collecting them, which in my statement is put in Avith the 

 cost of labor. 



This year I shall put the pine leaves on them, some salt 

 -grass on top ; for the past two winters ha^c been hard for the 

 plants, unless Avell protected. I take about one half the leaves 

 off in spring, leaving the rest on as mulching, which serves a 

 .good purpose in keeping down weeds, and keeps the fruit clean, 

 tliough making the crop three to four days later in ripening. 



AVhen Mr. Robinson states the cost of picking and packing 

 is less than three cts. per box, I think he makes a mistake. 

 Jf I remember right, in my statement it is just thi-ee cts. per 

 box, one thousand four liundred and twenty-five boxes, at,three 

 cts. makes $42.75 ; though this season it cost me less for pick- 

 ing than some other seasons, owing to size and thickness of 

 the berries. A hand could pick seventy-five boxes per day on 

 an average, making at two and one half cts. per box, $1.87 

 per day ; and I have had a hand pick one hundi-ed boxes per 

 •day in the best pickmg. My own folks did the packing, which 

 I estimated a one half cent per box. One hand by working all 

 day could pack two hundred boxes, making one dollar ; though 

 in former seasons when I have hired, I have paid more than 

 that, about one ct. per box. I think the subsoil is a moist 

 loam, with ihe soil not over ten inches deep. The general 

 jirice paid fur picking in this phice is three cts. per box. 



TREADAVELL FAini. 



The Committee on the Trendwell Farm report that at a 

 ^aneeting in May, at tlie farm, the committee examined the 

 •meadow muck which Mr. fJonld had dug tlie previous fall 



