n6 Thinning, Gathering, Keeping, and Marketing. 



crop of grapes. As soon as fully ripe (not before), the fruit should 

 be carefully picked and laid in shallow, well ventilated drawers, car- 

 ried to the packing-house on a spring wagon, and placed in racks or 

 cribs over registers so constructed as to afford plenty of fresh air, 

 but not exposed to light, or artificial heat. Here the fruit may 

 remain for months in safety, and retain its plumpness and bloom 

 perfectly. When desirable to send to market, the drawers are 

 taken from the rack in the store-room, and placed upon the tables 

 in the packing-rooms, where the fruit is carefully assorted, all 

 green berries and superfluous stems removed, and packed closely in 

 paper pockets or wooden boxes, and immediately shipped. The 

 packing-rooms should be well lighted. Small paper pockets, con- 

 taining from one to three pounds, snugly packed in wooden cases, 

 two dozen pockets in a case, are found to carry the fruit more safely 

 to market than larger packages. The cases should be as nearly air- 

 tight as possible. I have sent many tons, packed in this manner, to 

 Charleston, S. C, Nashville, Tenn., Quincy, Bloomington, and 

 Dubuque, on the Mississippi River, and many other towns, over 

 equally hazardous routes, with entire safety. Good grapes, neatly 

 packed in fancy paper pockets, will always sell at remunerative prices, 

 however much the market may be ' glutted' 1 with fruit put up in a 

 slovenly manner. 



"In answer to your inquiries, as to size and shape of 'pockets' 

 most desirable, I would suggest as a rule, that the package be made 

 to suit the desired market. 



" Fancy fruit retailers, who aim at high prices, require a fancy 

 package, and in the early part of the season a one pound package, 

 gotten up in best style, will command as much money as a four or 

 six pound package of equally good fruit, but less pretentious pocket ; 

 whilst the hotel or ' corner grocery ' men prefer them (for the table, 

 or to be weighed out by the pound) in wooden cases, containing 

 from twenty-five to thirty pounds each. 



" My aim has ever been, in putting grapes into market, to meet 

 the wants of the trade that I endeavored to supply. Boston, for 

 example, will realize an enormous price for first-class fruit in fancy 

 packages, whilst New York would pay far better in wood than in the 

 costly pockets consumed by Boston every-day trade. 



" Our one pound pockets are the usual depth (three and a half 

 inches), and about four inches in width, round, and covered with the 

 very best embossed and gilt-figured paper, lined inside with white, 

 and mounted on top with copper tippings and a fancy label printed 

 in colors. 



