Picking and Marketing. 249 



large quantities of apricots, and marketed them in such baskets as we hap- 

 pened to have. In the year named, my fruit was very large and finely 

 colored, and, knowing they would be damaged by carting in the usual 

 way, I had a number of small baskets made, and then I constructed a 

 crate to fit them. The next day after I made them, General Acker, who 

 was an old fruit grower, called on me, admired the arrangement, and 

 suggested that they would answer to pack berries in, and requested me to 

 make two for him, which I did. From these, the use of them became 

 general.' 



" The cases referred to were skeleton cases, some with and others 

 without lids, each grower making them to suit his own convenience for 

 handling ; but they generally contained from one to two hundred baskets 

 each. The number of baskets in each was marked either on the lid or 

 slat." 



From the above quotation, the reader can realize what vast changes 

 have taken place within the last fifty years. A few sable peddlers, with 

 little baskets strung on poles, form a decided contrast with a Charleston 

 steamer, bringing in one trip North far more strawberries, in patent refrig- 

 erators, than were then sold in a year ; or with an Old Dominion steamship, 

 discharging six thousand bushels as a single item of cargo. Ninety-four 

 car-loads of strawberries have passed over the Delaware railroad in one 

 day. According to one computation already given, New York consumes 

 $25,000,000 worth of small fruits annually. If the business has grown to 

 such proportions within the last half century, may we not expect even 

 greater increase in the future ? The appliances for preserving fruit, 

 and for transporting it quickly and safely, become more perfect every 

 year. Thus, a market is created in vast regions, which, though populous, 

 are not adapted to the raising of fruit 



The modern conditions of marketing fruit are just the reverse of those 

 described by Mr. Idell. Then, the berries, both in size and quantity, were 

 small; but the labor and difficulty in reaching the consumer were immense. 

 Now, strawberries that in size resemble tomatoes can be forwarded by the 

 ship and car-load, with brief, printed labels, and the commission merchant 

 sells for his correspondent, who may reside hundreds of miles away, and 

 for years never follow his fruits to their market. Our chief ground for 

 solicitude is success in finding a commission house able to dispose of our 

 fruit promptly at current rates, and sufficiently honest to make exact 

 returns at the end of each week. There are many who do this, and not a 

 few who do not. If one has not satisfactory business acquaintance in the 

 city, I suggest that they learn from their neighbors who have been in the 

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