SMALL FRUITS 223 



mulch entirely from alternate rows and run 

 through the space with a cultivator. The 

 mulch is then put back into the cultivated space 

 and the untouched portions gone over with the 

 soil stirrer. In every case the mulch is finally 

 returned to the rows so that the berries may 

 be protected from the earth as they ripen. 

 While there is nothing much better than a clean 

 ripe strawberry, there is nothing much worse 

 than a sandy one. 



A word of caution to the new grower who is 

 marketing strawberries for the first time is 

 not out of place here, especially as I have seen 

 so many cases where it was needed. The big 

 difficulty in growing strawberries is in the 

 harvest. Picking is often done by women and 

 children, and too often they are careless in 

 their methods. They will "grab" the berry 

 and wrench it from the plant in any way possi- 

 ble regardless of how much damage they 

 may do to the fruit. Their ambition is only to 

 fill as many boxes as they can during their 

 working hours. This carelessness results in 

 the fruit reaching the market in what the com- 

 mission men describe as a "leaking condition." 

 The bruised berries shed their life blood during 

 the trip to town and the crates are dripping 

 with the berry gore when they go on the mar- 

 ket. Of course the commission man gets the 

 blame when it rightly belongs to the picker. 



