FOR PROFIT. 131 



with handles, are much sought after. The new chip 

 fruit baskets are finding favour, and are very cheap. 

 [See illustration). Refer to Chapter XIV. for fuller 

 Strawberry information. 



The Patent Chip Punnets. 



These can be purchased wholesale of Messrs. Osman 

 and Co., 132, Commercial Street, London, E.C., or 

 through any seedsman ; also suitable crates to hold 

 24 or 48 pound baskets. 



Main crop Strawberries are picked with stalks, in 

 baskets made for the purpose, with tops bending over, 

 called " rim pecks," in the form of a gallon stone bottle, 

 which hold 12-lb. ; and in this case they are not 

 covered with paper. Later on they are sent with or 

 without stalks to the " boilers," in barrels holding about 

 56 -lb. It is important to throw out any mis-shaped or 

 unripe fruit, as appearance is everything in punnet 

 Strawberries. The punnets before alluded to are 

 again packed in large square hampers, or flat boxes 

 with handles, secured from depredation. Choice Apples, 

 Pears, or Plums pay to market in peck baskets or 

 boxes, when there is a short crop. 



Raspberries are "tubbed," special tubs being made 

 for them, to weigh about a quarter cwt. Women pick 

 the fruit, slipping it off the cores into small wooden 

 or galvanized pails, which must be kept clean. Fruit 



