200 



CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



employment tliey furnish to the neigh- 

 borhoods, especially in berry-picking 

 time. Women and children are then 

 in great demand, and hired girls are 

 wont to desert their mistresses for a 

 few weeks during this period. — Farm 

 and Nome. 



Selling Direct to the Consumer. 



Sir,- -I see a good deal of corres- 

 pondence from time to time in regard 

 to the business done in the various 

 British Markets in selling fruits on 

 commission. Viewing the subject from 

 a Canadian standiK)ini,my fxperienceof 

 many years has been quite against deal- 

 ing with commission Iiouses. Sometimes 

 I made money, but oftener lost; and 

 when I examine into the methods they 

 have of doing business, I do not wonder 

 at all at my losses. They only appear 

 to get rid of the fruits in the quickest 

 possible manner, never holding off from 



a bad market day to find a better price. 

 Then I find in some cases,that the broker 

 either owns or is interested in one or 

 more retail fruit stores, and of course 

 sells to these at a sacrifice, so far as the 

 shipper is concerned. For the past 

 eight years 1 have shipped only to direct 

 orders, and only the choicest samples of 

 fruit, and evei-y year I find orders 

 far more than I can supply ; in fact, 

 we find some of these brokers appoint- 

 ing agents in Canada to purchase fin- 

 est samples and pay cash on delivery 

 at the local railway station. What we 

 want, however, is to get closer to the 

 consumer ; that is, instead of consign- 

 ing to a broker, who generally sells to 

 the wholesale fruitei-er, and he to the 

 retailer, who supplies the consumer, we 

 want to get orders direct from the 

 retailer, so that the consumer will get 

 a better sample of fruit and at a rea- 

 sonable price. — C 07- respondent Horti- 

 cultural Tim,es. 



VITICULTURAL. 



Marketing Grapes. 



Mr. J. H. Skinner gave the follow- 

 ing points, based on the practice in the 

 famous Chautauqua County Vineyards, 

 before his Horticultural Society, some 

 time since : The grapes are all picked 

 by girls. The pickers eacli have a 

 number; and in picking, each one, on 

 tilling a basket, marks with the picking- 

 shears her number on the handle. In 

 this way the responsibility for any 

 careless picking can be traced. Not 

 how much, but how well is the rule. 

 The picker is not allowed to touch the 

 bunches with the hand, but to handle 

 them by the stem. In packing, the 

 clusters are lifted with thumb and 

 finger, and with the sharp pointed grape 

 scissoi's, all green, imperfect or bruised 

 berries are deftly removed. Thus the 

 bloom Oft the grapes is preserved. The 

 fruit, after picking, stands three and 



four days to wilt, before packing. Of 

 10,000 baskets sold last season, the 

 average weight was eight and seven- 

 tenths pounds per basket. None but 

 perfectly seasoned baskets ai'e used ; 

 green baskets causing mold. Where 

 Concords have been picked two weeks 

 or over in the warm fall weather, all 

 the cracked and bruised berries will 

 show some mold, but as in picking all 

 these are scrupulously removed, no harm 

 is done. The Concord is never fit for 

 shipping long distances, except it has 

 been first carefully picked, then wilted, 

 and then packed. The packers soon 

 learn to lay in the clusters so as to fill 

 the baskets just level. — Popular Gar- 

 dening. 



Keeping Grapes. 



The fruiterers are, at certain seasons 

 of the year, quite constantly in receipt 



