39 



Marketing the Crop. 



Most localities in Massachusetts have an additional advantage in 

 strawberry growing in the fact that pickers can be easily secured for 

 a moderate price. In all factory towns it is possible to get a number 

 of energetic boys and girls for this work. The almost universal pay- 

 ment for picking is 2 cents a quart. 



Berries are always picked early in the morning and placed in quart 

 baskets. These baskets are sent to market in crates holding 24, 32, 

 36 or 48 quarts. 



It is good practice, especially where a good grade of fruit is grown, 

 to sort all the berries, facing up each quart box as apples are faced in 

 barrels. This does not mean that small berries are to be put in the 

 bottom of the box, but simply that the fruit is to be made to look as 

 attractive as possible. 



Usually berries shipped in crates to city markets, like Springfield, 

 Worcester and Boston, bring reasonably good prices. When they do 

 not, it is owing to some local difficulty, or to a temporary glut. The 

 most satisfactory way to sell berries, of course, is in the home market, 

 direct to one's own customers. There are so many localities in which 

 this can be done that this sort of trade may be considered character- 

 istic of Massachusetts. It is a line of business which will bear very 

 much larger development. 



