The Small Fruits. 



149 



form, i. e., tlie parts not set up or nailed together, and are 

 put in shape for use on the fruit plantation. Stapling ma- 

 chines are used by large growers for nailing up the boxes. 

 Boys, girls and women are generally employed for pick- 

 ing the small fruits. 



Fig. 43. Case or crate in which the filled boxes are marketed. 

 The empty boxes are commonly placed in the case bottom upward. 



The fruits are commonly picked directly into the boxes 

 in which they are marketed, but one quality being made 

 though strawberries are sometimes assorted during picking 

 into two grades. All leaves, straws or dirt must be kept 

 out of the boxes in picking, and the pickers must be com- 

 pelled to keep their own rows. The boxes are carried in 

 the field in light, handled trays holding 4 or 6 boxes, and 

 for the bramble fruits, a small frame, in which a box may 

 be placed, attached to a belt, is sometimes buckled about 

 the waist, to enable the use of both hands in picking. 



The pickers are commonly paid by the box, though some 

 growers prefer to pay by the day or hour. When paid by 

 the box, the accounts with the pickers may be kept by 

 giving each picker a printed ticket on which a number 

 corresponds to the number of filled boxes delivered, or each 

 picker may be given a card, with his name written on it, 

 on which the number of filled boxes delivered by the picker 



