BERRIES AND CHERRIES BY PARCEL POST. 5 



PICKING AND PACKING. 



The treatment that is given strawberries in picking and handling 

 in the field, and in packing, has much to do with the damage which 

 occurs when they are shipped. Most growers are forced to employ- 

 unskilled laborers and children to pick berries, payment being made 

 on the basis of the quantity picked. Unless considerable supervi- 

 sion is given to such labor, it is likely that berries of nearly all degrees 

 of maturity will be placed in the baskets. When the berries are 

 ripening very rapidly they should be picked every day so that there 

 will be little opportunity for the fruit to become overripe. 



During the periods w^hen experimental shipments were made, it 

 was noticed that some pickers placed in the baskets many berries 

 that were picked without the caps. Berries from which the caps 

 have been removed will not ship well, as they soon begin to spoil. 

 Green and overripe berries also are included by careless pickers, 

 especially where payment is based on the quantity rather than on 

 the quality of the fruit picked. Children sometimes replace in baskets 

 the berries which they pick up from overturned boxes. In such 

 instances the berries usually are somewhat bruised and conditions 

 for decay are encouraged. Grass and trash also are picked up 

 vrith the fruit and their presence gives the berries an unattractive 

 appearance. 



Growers who wish to ship berries direct to consumers by parcel 

 post should see that care is exercised in picking and handling the 

 berries in the field in order to prevent the inclusion of both green and 

 overripe berries which detract much from the appeai ance of a basket 

 of the fruit. 



Berries which are to be shipped by parcel post should not be handled 

 after they are picked, and for this reason the supervision of the 

 pickers in the field should be such as to favor the picking and packing 

 of fruit of good marketable quality only. 



Some growers permit the pickers to leave berries in the sun until 

 a certain number of quarts have been picked. While a picker should 

 not be required to take his berries to the packing shed too frequently, 

 some method should be used which wiU get the berries out of the sun 

 soon after they are picked. In carrying the berries from the field 

 to the packing shed, care should be taken that the fruit is not bruised 

 or in any way injured. The packing shed should be convenient to 

 the field and should be well ventilated. The person packing the 

 berries should see that the baskets are weU filled as the berries will 

 settle considerably while they are in transit. The baskets should be 

 placed carefuUy in the crate while both the baskets and dividers 

 should be in the proper place. In order to allow all the ventilation 

 possible, the covers of the crates should not be closed until the berries 

 are to be hauled to the station. 



