Brctssels Sprouts 1455 



berry baskets, the looser heads going into the bottom, and the 

 smooth, firm ones on top, allowing a crown of an inch or two above 

 the rim of the box. Little attempt is made at sizing, bnt occa- 

 sionally the small hard sprouts are packed by themselves. 



In the earlier part of the season, when the sprouts run larger 

 and with fewer culls, the common price paid for picking and pack- 

 ing is two cents a quart ; and at that rate a man working an eve- 

 ning from 5:30 to 11:00 can sometimes make $1.25. If the 

 sprouts were poor he could not make over two-thirds of this 

 amount. In the winter the pickers often insist on being paid by 

 the day, the common rate being one dollar, but a good picker can 

 usually do better at piece-work, for he can average two bushels or 

 sixty-four quarts a day. 



When the boxes are packed they are set in 32-, 48-, or 60-quart 

 crates for shipment, the second size being the favorite for all but 

 the earliest sprouts, which seem to sell a little better in the small- 

 est package. The 60-quart package is a little too large for market 

 requirements, moving a little slowly, and is now almost entirely 

 abandoned for the 48-quart, on which the express charge is rela- 

 tively less than on the 32-quart crate. 



Sprouts are picked all winter, the very last of them going to 

 market as late as April first ; but nearly everything has commonly 

 gone by March first. Mr. L. H. Hallock has tried freezing sprouts 

 by embedding them in cracked ice, in order to hold them for the 

 spring market, but found it impracticable to keep them frozen in 

 an ordinary icehouse. With mechanical refrigeration the matter 

 would be simpler, and doubtless will soon be employed. The 

 frozen sprouts come out in excellent condition when thawed 

 gradually. 



YIELDS, PRICES AND PROFITS 



Two thousand quarts per acre is considered a fair yield for late 

 sprouts, used as a succession crop, but the best growers will not 

 infrequently harvest as many as 2,500. In the case of early 

 sprouts, when the land has been saved for them and part of the 

 crop harvested in the field, 4,000 quarts can be picked, but this is 

 more than ordinary. Even as high as 5,500 quarts have been 

 raised on an acre. 



