GATHERING AND HARVESTING. 89 



The cluster of buds which duly make their appearance 

 are at first little dark-green spikes, but as they grow 

 they become straw-colored, then, under the influence ot 

 a few showers, almost white, and finally burst into snowy 

 blossoms, and after a day or two the flowers turn brown 

 and fade away, the more gradually the better; when the 

 bloom is out, the rainfall is unwelcome, but after it is 

 " set " the shower is beneficial. The pistils of the flowers 

 now assume the form of berries, gradually growing and 

 changing their color from dark-green to light-yellow, 

 which finally drys out to red or crimson. As soon as a 

 sprinkling of red berries is seen, picking should begin 

 and continue as long as any berries ripen, that is to say, 

 from one to three months, but the berries or " cherries " 

 as they are more frequently called, must not be picked 

 until they are fully ripe, which is best indicated by a 

 deep, purplish-crimson color, and as the crop rarely or 

 never ripens all at once, two to three pickings are 

 required, the second being the principal one, the others 

 being rather gleanings than pickings. Each mature 

 berry should be picked separately ofl" its stalk and never 

 stripped off"; the cherries as picked are dropped into a 

 small bag about eighteen inches square, suspended fi-om 

 the neck of the picker, and the bags are then emptied 

 into one or two bushel sacks or hampers placed at 

 intervals on the paths of the pickers. If the berries 

 are allowed to get over-ripe in wet weather, they will be 

 liable to burst and drop the beans, or to fall off" bodily, 

 but if on clean ground much of them may be recovered, 

 while In very hot weather they are more likely to dry up 

 and hold on to trees. In order to convey the berries to 

 the curing-houses in some countries a great saving is 



