MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION OP STRAWBERRIES. 3 



Under these conditions there is often a tendency on the part of the 

 pickers to do unsatisfactory work. 



Various methods of handling pickers were observed during the 1915 

 season, the most satisfactory of which included a "field boss/' who 

 assigned each picker certain rows, and who continually supervised 

 them to see that they harvested only berries of the proper degree of 

 maturity, and that care was exercised in handling both the berries 

 and the vines. The grower was also represented at the packing shed 

 by a "ticket giver," who passed upon the acceptability of the berries 

 delivered, and who credited the picker for work done. The field 

 inspection when efficient usually reduced the work at the receiving 

 shed to a mere recording of the amounts delivered by each picker. 



Different growers have worked out various schemes for keeping 

 their accounts with pickers. In some localities it is the practice to 

 give them small printed tickets indicating the number of quart or 

 pint boxes delivered. These are afterwards exchanged for tickets 

 representing a case each, which are redeemed hi cash once a week. 

 In one district growers use small metallic checks furnished by store- 

 keepers, who accept these checks in trade at any tune, if so desired. 

 These checks were also redeemable by the grower hi cash each week. 



In one section the use of a punch ticket appears to combine the 

 best qualities of the small tickets and checks, with the added advan- 

 tage of establishing the ownership of the ticket in case it should be 

 lost. This ticket is reproduced in figure 1. A promise to pay a 

 bonus to the picker if he is always available for work during the 

 entire season is printed on its face and tends to insure the grower a 

 regular supply of help upon which he can depend. It is probable 

 that a dependable supply of workers would be made more certain if 

 the grower were to guarantee the picker a minimum number of work- 

 ing days within the limits of the normal harvesting season. 



COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATIONS. 



With the increasing necessity for more elaborate methods of dis- 

 posal of the crop than those practiced by the small individual growers 

 many cooperative marketing associations have come into existence. 

 Practically every important producing section has one or more of 

 these associations. In some areas — the Louisiana district and the 

 southwest Missouri district, for instance — a number of different 

 organizations have developed because of a divergence of interests, or 

 on racial lines. 



