How to Gather the Fruit 



371 



FIQ. 135. Tray for berry-boxes. 



are put up for the finest dessert trade; but as they are 

 ordinarily handled, very little attention is paid to leaving 

 the stems on. Leaving the stems on is vital to the hand- 

 ling of plums and cherries, not 

 only because the market demands 

 it, but because the fruit will be 

 very likely to rot if the stems are 

 pulled out, and they will not pack 

 so snugly and will not stand the 

 transportation so well. The stems 

 of cherries, plums and currants, and the hulls of straw- 

 berries, serve a most useful purpose in holding the fruits 

 in place in the box or basket, and in taking up the slack 

 from settling or shrinkage. 



It is only in rare cases that 

 fruit should be sent to the market 

 hi the packages in which the pick- 

 ers place it; it will need to be 

 sorted from these packages into 

 others, and this sorting should be 

 done in a cool shed or packing- 

 room. In the picking of small-fruits, various kinds of trays 

 or stands are used. In strawberries, it is important that 

 these stands should have legs, so that when the package 

 is set down it will not crush berries on the vines, and 

 neither will it be so likely to tip over. Such 

 stands are handy for grapes, or for any kind 

 of berry fruits as well. Fig. 133 shows a type 

 of berry-stand largely used for the picking 

 of raspberries and blackberries. This stand 

 holds six one-quart boxes, and a tier is easily 

 stacked upon another, one tier or layer of FIG. 137. A half- 

 stands breaking joints with those above and Set picking ~ 



FIG. 136. Berry-stand on legs. 



