148 HANDLING AND MARKETING THE CROP. 



without sweetness is not wanted 

 anywhere, and a failure to recog- 

 nize this leads to more trouble than 

 any other one thing connected with 

 the work. Violets properly grown are always 

 sweet, but all the delicious odor may be lost 

 through improper handling. The flower loses 

 its odor rapidly as soon as it is removed from the 

 plant, and the quicker it reaches the retailer's 

 hands the sweeter it will be. Long distance ship- 

 ments, therefore, are never satisfactory, for by 

 the time the flowers reach their destination they 

 have lost nearly all their odor. Ten to thirteen 

 hours from the time of picking until the market is 

 reached is practically the limit so far as relates to 

 holding the sweetness of the flower. It is unwise, 

 therefore, to pick the afternoon of one day, and 

 after holding the flowers over night, ship the fol- 

 lowing morning. It is best, whenever possible, to 

 have the flowers picked early in the morning 

 and reach market the same morning or not later 

 than the middle of the same afternoon. If 

 picked late in the afternoon they should be 

 shipped that night so as to be in the market 

 early the next morning. 



The best times for picking are early in the 

 morning and late in the afternoon, that is, between 

 six and eight o'clock in the morning and four and 

 six o'clock in the afternoon. Different plans are 

 adopted in picking and bunching. As a rule, fifty 



