27 



Screen House. 

 After being poured into the bushel boxes, the berries are 

 stored in the packing house (screen house). This building 

 should be capable of thorough ventilation. On damp days it 

 should be kept close shut, and on dry, sunny days it should be 

 thoroughly ventilated. It should have ample capacity for 

 storing two-thirds of the maximum crop that may be expected 

 from the bog and the barrels for packing as well as room for 

 separating and screening the berries. A building of one floor, 

 40 by SO feet, should be sufiiciently large to accommodate the 

 berries of a heavy crop from a 12-acre bog. 



Preparation of the Berries for Market. 



The first shipments are usually made within a week after 

 picking begins, in early September, and the greater part of the 

 crop is sold by the 1st of December, though a considerable 

 quantity of berries is often in the hands of the growers until 

 well into the winter. Some growers prefer to take the lower 

 prices which the earlier shipments bring and get rid of their 

 berries as soon as possible. It is to be said in favor of this 

 attitude that their shipments do not suffer from shrinkage due 

 to rot and loss of water as do the late shipments, and the cost 

 of screening and packing is also much less than it is with the 

 berries which are shipped late. Berries which are held until 

 into the winter, however, usually bring much better prices, and 

 some growers prefer to hold their fruit late and suffer the inci- 

 dental losses for the sake of obtaining these higher prices. 



In preparing for market, the berries are first run through a 

 machine known as a separator. There are a number of makes 

 of these machines on the market. Those most used on Cape 

 Cod are provided with a hopper at the top for receiving the 

 berries, a blower for cleaning them of chaff, and several bound- 

 ing boards for separating the decayed from the sound fruit. 

 Some of the machines also have other useful accessories, such 

 as endless aprons and grading devices. If the berries have not 

 been badly worm-eaten or decayed on the bog to any extent 

 they may be packed for shaping as soon as they have been 



