BERRIES AND CHER.EIES BY PARCEL POST. 3 



growers who cooperated in making the experimental shipments fol- 

 lowed these instructions, but a few who had berries of extra size and 

 quality and were vitally interested in the success of the experiment 

 asked and were given permission to use special care in handling their 

 shipments. Not enough of these special shipments were made to 

 warrant conclusions, but the results secured indicate that uncertain 

 weather conditions and possibilities of careless handling while in 

 transit may tend to discourage the use of the parcel post for sliipping 

 the highest grade of fancy select berries, which require special care 

 throughout the marketing process. 



Because of heavy rains and hot weather during a large part of the 

 strawberry shipping seasons of 1916 and 1917, conditions were 

 unfavorable for shipping berries without refrigeration. However, 

 shipments of strawberries were made by parcel post during the entire 



Fig. 1. — One 24-quaft crate and one 16-quart crate of strawberries shipped by parcel post. 



shipping seasons, as it was desired to make experimental shipments 

 under varying conditions. 



A large number of crates of berries were received in poor condi- 

 tion because of unfavorable weather conditions and delay in delivery. 

 However, when the weather conditions were favorable, the berries 

 that had been picked and packed properly arrived in good merchant- 

 able condition. Figure 1 shows two shipments of strawberries 

 that were made under favorable conditions. 



• In 1915 a total of 118 crates of strawberries were received by parcel 

 post, the fruit in aU except 18 of these crates being received in good 

 condition. 



In 1916 over one-half of the shipments arrived in unsatisfactory 

 condition, chiefly because of unfavorable weather conditions. The 

 shipping season was marked by heavy rains, followed by hot, clear 

 days, which caused the berries to soften and scald and made it difficult 

 to ship them satisfactorily even under refrigeration. 



