PICKING AND MARKETING. 99 



along while picking ; but this jostles and injures the 

 fruit, exposing it to the evil effects of the hot sun, 

 and weights the picker. Especially if the sun be hot, 

 near the middle of the day, it is best, after filling a 

 box, to set it among the foliage, hid from the rays of 

 the sun, until a tray load is picked, and then carry to 

 the picking shed. The tray is worthless, except as a 

 carrier after the boxes are filled. 



If wanted for local markets, start picking at daylight, and 

 have pickers enough so the fruit can be gathered and into the 

 market before eight o'clock. For distant market, try to pick 

 in the evening or in the morning after the dew is off the grass 

 and yet before it is too warm. If picking must be done all 

 through the heat of the day, plan some way to cool the ber- 

 ries. Pickers of mature years are best ; and as a rule, girls are 

 better than boys. Have a superintendent for every ten or twelve 

 pickers to assign the rows, inspect the picking, etc. Kach picker 

 should be numbered and have a picking stand with like number 

 J. H. HALE to hold four, six and eight quarts. Sort the berries 

 as picked into two grades, and always use new, clean baskets 

 made of the whitest wood possible. Fill rounding full with fruit 

 of uniform quality all the way through. After they are picked 

 keep away from the air as much as possible. Fruit, if dry cooled, 

 will keep much longer and keep fresher if kept in tight crates. 

 Ventilation in crates and baskets does more harm than good ; to 

 prove this, pick a basket of nice berries, put in a shady but airy 

 place, and I will bet at the end of twenty-four hours the only 

 bright and good berries will be in the bottom of the basket away 

 from ventilation and light. Conn. 



In picking, do not allow the pickers to touch the berries at 

 all, but handle them by the stem, and lay in the boxes oue by 

 one as they are picked. Pick every ripe berry in the patch every 

 day. Place enough green leaves over the berries to prevent their 

 S. W. GILBERT being shaken around and bruised. The old 

 idea that the strawberry should have plenty of air circulating 

 over, under and through them, has been knocked into n cocked 

 hat. Treat your customer so nicely that once a customer, always 

 a customer. Mo. 



