100 FRUIT RAXCHIXG. 



To return to tlie strawberries. 'Inhere are various 

 methods of gathering this fruit, tlie method employed 

 being determined principally by the acreage and the 

 amount to be picked. In some localities the Indians 

 are employed as pickers, just as they are employed to 

 pick hops, for example, on Lord Aberdeen's Cold- 

 stream estate at Vernon in the Okanagan Valley. 

 When the berries are picked by Indians, they are all 

 taken into the packing-house, turned out on tables, 

 graded, and packed there. Where the crop is 

 smaller, and the pickers are more under control and 

 capable of exercising better judgment, it is usual to 

 pick the berries straight into the punnets or chip 

 boxes, the punnets being filled three-parts full. These 

 are then collected and taken into the packing-room, 

 where they are filled up with other berries, neatly 

 arranged in regular order, so as to give the punnet a 

 more attractive appearance for selling. If a grower 

 has a proper regard for his fruit, and desires to have 

 it arrive in good condition, he will not gather it 

 during the heat of the day, but will discontinue pick- 

 ing between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Even then, 

 it is still necessary that the strawberries should 

 have time to cool down before being shipped 

 out. If they are shipped warm they will not travel 

 well, especially if they are the softer varieties. The 

 harder varieties, if properly cooled, placed in cold 

 storage, and put into an iced refrigerator car on the 

 train, will keep perfectly sound for four or even five 

 days, sufficiently long to allow of their jierforming 

 a journey of over 1,000 miles. In fact, one of the 

 chief markets for Kootenay strawberries is Winnipeg, 

 which, as I have already stated, is 1,100 miles from 



