MANAGEMENT OF PICKERS 



243 



to be picked with the steins on if possible. With some of the 

 American varieties it is sometimes difficult to do this, as they 

 separate from the stem very readily. 



Management of Pickers. It remains to say just a few 

 words in regard to orchard methods which apply pretty gener- 

 ally to all the different fruits. The first of these, and by all 

 means the most important, is the question of managing the 

 pickers. Various methods are in vogue, but, with few excep- 

 tions, the only proper way is to pay by the day and not by the 

 piece. With small fruits this may not be so generally true, but 

 with the orchard fruits, which we are considering, where the 

 orchardist wants good work he can get it only by absolutely 

 owning the men's time. It 

 is desirable ' to get as good 

 help as possible. And if the 

 owner can have enough 

 regular men, or men who 

 have worked on the place 

 enough to have an interest 

 in things, so that he can put 

 one or two of them with the 

 raw recruits, it is a great 

 advantage. It is also well not 

 to have too many men in any 

 one gang. 



Some method must also be adopted to relieve the picker of the 

 necessity of holding his basket, so that he may have both hands 

 free. A very common and handy device is an iron hook fastened 

 to the handle of the basket which may be hooked over a limb 

 of the tree or a rung of the ladder. Sometimes the basket is hung 

 to the belt or over the shoulder. 



The sooner the fruit can be gotten under cover after being 

 picked the better. Do not allow it to stand in the hot sun. Of 

 course this is more important with the perishable classes, like 

 cherries, but it holds to a greater or less extent with fruit of 

 any kind. 



For hauling the fruit from the orchard some type of low 



FIG. 119. Distributing barrels in the apple 

 orchard. 



