Picking. 253 



as possible. Insist that the baskets be full and rounded up, and the fruit 

 equal in quality down to the bottom. As far as possible, let the hulls be 

 down, out of sight, and only the fruit showing. If you have berries that 

 are extra fine, it will pay you to pick and pack them yourself, or have 

 some one to do it who can be depended upon. Do not pick the fruit, if 

 you can help it, when it is wet with dew or rain ; still, there are times 

 when this must be done to save it. Never let the baskets or crates stand 

 long in the sun and wind, as the berries so treated soon become dull and 

 faded. As soon as a crate is filled, put it under cover in a cool place 

 till shipped to market. As far as possible, insist upon careful, gentle 

 handling. 



Raspberries should be treated with even greater care than strawberries, 

 since they are softer and more perishable. They should never be put 

 into anything larger than a pint basket, while thirds of a quart and half- 

 pints are much better. Round half-pints seem to be coming into 

 favor. There is a wide, shallow basket made in Rochester, that some 

 growers think highly of. With most varieties of raspberries, if any con- 

 siderable number are placed together they soon become a soft, moldy 

 mass. The ideal raspberry basket, therefore, is small, open, and shallow ; 

 and the crates should permit free circulation. Pick the fruit when dry, 

 and as soon as it is ripe, as over-ripe berries decay quickly. Keep 

 varieties by themselves. Mr. Parry says that raspberries will pay at ten 

 cents per quart, but the margin of profit will be small. They usually sell 

 at much higher figures. Black-caps, of late years, have scarcely brought 

 paying prices in New York market. The following statement shows what 

 a difference variety, and therefore quality, makes in the same market. 

 On the /th day of July, 1871, raspberries were sold at wholesale, in 

 Philadelphia, as follows, viz. : 



Black-cap 5 cents per quart. 



Philadelphia 8 do. 



Pearl :. 16 do. 



Susqueco, or Brandywine 30 do. 



Hornet 60 do. 



Blackberries sell well in both quart and pint baskets, but if one is send- 

 ing a long distance, pints will carry the fruit in better condition. 



One of the best methods of shipping currants is to have tills, or shallow 

 boxes, two or three in number, fitting in one's berry crates, which can thus 

 be made to serve a double purpose. Mark on these tills the net weight of 

 the fruit. For large, Cherry currants, quart and verbena baskets are often 



