Picking and Packing 179 



berries that project beyond the side of the box will be 

 crushed and the boxes stained. If the boxes are not 

 faced, it is necessary to heap them slightly, so that they 

 will be level when they reach market. Fill them so full 

 that they will be gently pressed down when the cover of 

 the crate is nailed on. 



Usually the facers are placed so that they will fit to- 

 gether tightly without regard to alignment, but in some 

 districts, especially in the Pacific Northwest, they are 

 aligned each way, making four by four, five by five, or four 

 by five tier boxes (Plate XVII) . This cannot be done unless 

 the berries are quite uniform in size. Berries smaller than 

 five tier should not be packed. If strawberry leaves are 

 placed on the top boxes, do not let them project from the 

 crate. One packer can sort and pack twelve to twenty 

 twenty-four quart crates a day. Northwestern growers 

 usually have one packer to three pickers. The price 

 paid for packing at Plant City, Florida, is one cent a 

 quart box ; at Vashon, Washington, ten cents a twenty- 

 four quart crate ; at Hood River, Oregon, the person who 

 faces but does not pack, is paid one-half cent a box. Each 

 packer is furnished with a rubber stamp bearing his 

 number, which is placed upon each crate he packs. 



Piece packing. 



The larger growers in the Ozark district pack by the 

 piece system. The packing shed force is divided into 

 cullers, packers, graders and shed inspector ; about two- 

 thirds of the force cull and grade. The culler empties 

 each box of berries as it comes from the field into the tin 

 culling scoop, picks out the small, green, sandy, over- 

 ripe and defective specimens, and puts those that remain 

 back into the box from which they came. The packer 



