BE SI IT 



c 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



PICKING AND MARKETING. 



IN the proceedings of the New Jersey State Horticultural Society, I find 

 the following interesting paper from the pen of Mr. C. W. Idell, a 

 commission merchant, whose intelligent interest in fruits extends beyond 

 their current price. He gives so graphic a picture of the diminutive 

 beginning of small fruit growing and marketing, that I am led to quote 

 freely : " About the earliest knowledge I could obtain of the strawberry 

 in our State is that it first grew wild in many regions, particularly in 

 the county of Bergen. The negroes were the first to pick this fruit for 

 the New York market, and invented those quaint, old-fashioned splint 

 baskets, with handles that were and are still in use in that county. These 

 berries were taken to New York, the baskets being strung on poles, and 

 thus peddled through the city. I would state, for the benefit of those who 

 have not seen these baskets, that it was the intention of the original 

 makers of them to have them contain a half-pint each, but soon they 

 became so reduced in size that each buyer was compelled to guess at the 

 contents of those he bought. 



"Just when cultivated berries made their appearance, I am unable to 

 say, but I am inclined to think they were derived from seedlings of the wild 

 fruit. From the information I have gathered, I think that the cultivation 

 of the fruit for the market originated in the vicinity of Hackensack, 

 Bergen county, and from there spread over the State. As there were 

 no railroads in that section at that early date, all the berries had to be 

 carted to New York in wagons, crossing the Hudson at Hoboken. Quite 



