Mother method is to have tickets to hand out to tne pickers each time they bring in a 

 case of berries, these tickets being presented on pay day. We usually pay from one 

 to *wo cents per quart for gathering, owing of course to the picking. About one and 

 a half cents for strawberries, and two cents for raspberries and blackberries, is a fair 

 average price. 



WAGONS FOR DRAWING- FRUIT. 



Spring -wagons should always be used, for the jolting of a springless wagon will do 

 more harm to fruit going one mile than riding on the cars two hundred miles. The 

 best arrangement and the easiest about loading fruit on is to have a three-spring 

 wigon, two behind and one before, and instead of a regular wagon box or "bed," 

 simply have bottom boards, strongly cleated together and the same width as the box. 

 ,,ii the outer edge nail firmly two narrow strips, that go above the top of plank "but 

 one inch. These prevent the crates from sliding off. and being so low, make it easy 

 to load-on from the side as well as the hind end. Those who cannot afford a spring 

 wagon, can easily arrange their one or two horse " lumber" wagon, by simply having 

 two strong "half springs" made that will fit in between the stakes on the "bolsters. 

 On these springs have the bottom boards arranged. "We used such a wagon as that at 

 the West and carried our fruit nicely on it. Care should be exercised as to 



SHIPPING- FRUIT THAT PERISHES QUICKLY. 



If trains that pass your station certain times in the day reach the city after the early 

 morning market hours are over, it is better to keep the fruit standing in your cool 

 sheds until they can be shipped on a train that will go in at the right time ; as the 

 close, hot streets of the large cities are bad places for fruit, as it spoils so quickly. It 

 is better, too, to ship fruit in baskets than in boxes, as they are not so liable to heat 

 and spoil. A quart basket with slat bottom, for strawberries, and a pint basket of 

 same kind for raspberries and blackberries. The latter should always be shipped to 

 distant markets in pint baskets, for having no stems or hulls, like strawberries, they 

 press closer together, and are more likely to be heated or mouldy if in a quart basket. 

 Another object in shipping in baskets is, that they have 6lanting sides and fit closely 

 together only at top, (we refer to square baskets, as our experience the past season 

 has demonstrated to us that we would not ship in round boxes or baskets if given to 

 us,) the air thus passing all through the crate between and under the baskets, and pre- 

 venting any heating. The objection to the square, tight, gift box is, that they fit so 

 closely together that the air does not have a free ventilation, and the fruit ' spoils very 

 quickly. We have had blackberries and raspberries mould and spoil in a single night 

 in these tight square boxes, and believe it > our duty here to condemn them, although 

 we had before thought favorably of' them. They will not answer in hot, damp 

 weather, while baskets packed in slatted crates, will carry fruit nicely and not heat it. 

 As to the 



SIZE OF SHIPPING CRATES, 



there is a difference of opinion. It has always been our experience, however, that a 

 crate holding forty-five to sixty quarts was best, as such requires two persons to load 

 and unload, and are therefore not so liable to be thrown about as a smaller one that 

 one person can handle. Another important point with cases is, to have them made 

 shallow— not so high as they are broad— for if not made so they are more likely to get 

 placed on the side by careless express messengers, and the fruit nearly ruined thereby. 

 Our cases for square quart baskets are made to hold five one way and tluee the other, 

 making fifteen in each layer, and we make thcni oo hold three layers, having the slat 

 division between each layer. 



Fig 



