132 THINNING, GATHERING. KEEPING, MARKETING. 



baskets and crates, such as are now almost universa.lly used 

 everywhere, are undoubtedly familiar to every one 



A convenient, light, and cheap set of drawers, or flat boxes, 

 for conveying such firm-fleshed berries as currants, goose- 

 berries, and the more solid strawberries, or for holding the 

 smaller boxes, often used in portions of the West, is con- 

 structed in the following manner : 



I. Prepare five drawers, each two feet long and twenty 

 inches wide, and two inches 

 deep in the clear. It is best ^"^- '''• 



to have them made of pine, 

 three - eighths of an inch 

 thick. It is most convenient 

 to have the stuff all sawed 

 the same width, say two and 



Fig. 195. Fig. 196. 



Wooden Nests for Small Fruit. 



a half inches wide, and use it this width for the bottom, 

 leaving them about one-sixteenth of an inch apart for venti- 

 lation. The front and back sides of each drawer should 

 extend three-quarters of an inch beyond the ends, as shown 

 in Fig. 195. Next, provide two strips of strong wood (white 

 ash for example) two inches wide and three-quarters of an 

 inch thick. These should be of the same length as the sides 

 of the box, so that when placed lengthwise under the box 

 they may project three-quarters of an inch beyond the ends. 

 Nail these strips so that they shall be lengthwise under the 

 bottom, and three-eighths of an inch from the outer part of 

 the sides. The nails may be driven through the bottom down 

 into the strips. Then nail to the box four similar strips 

 placed vertically, so that their ends shall rest on these pro- 

 jecting pieces, as shown in Fig. 196, and strengthen the con- 

 nection by sheet-iron straps passing around the corners. 

 When the boxes are used, the lower one, Fig. 196, is filled 



