HARVESTING AND MARKETING THE CROP 



553 



It is not contended that these measures will control in all 

 sections, but they have been effective in some areas. 



Among insects, the tree cricket, puncturing the canes, is 

 sometimes serious; the cane borer girdles young canes and 

 bores into the roots, the crown borer is very destructive in 

 some western berry sections. The raspberry sawfly larvae 

 feed on the leaves in northern sections and west to the Missis- 

 sippi; the raspberry beetle causes many wormy red raspberries, 

 and the red spider sometimes infests the brambles, causing the 

 leaves to look yellow and sick. Each section has worked out 

 control methods for those insects of local importance. Follow 

 them, keeping in touch with new findings from year to year. 



12. Harvesting and Marketing the Crop. The fruit of all 

 members of this group is very perishable. It ripens quickly, 

 reaches its highest point of excellence quickly, and deteriorates 

 just as rapidly. These natural processes are accentuated by 

 wet, sultry weather. The red raspberry is especially tender, 

 and its period of use for consumption is short. Plans must be 

 made well in advance to handle every detail of the harvesting 

 and marketing operations promptly and efficiently. Packages 

 must be on hand, pickers must be available, and the channels 

 through which marketing is to take place must be clearly in 

 mind. 



Pick raspberries as soon as they separate freely from the 

 bushes. They will then be firm and will stand handling and 

 shipping better than if allowed to become fully ripe. Pick 

 them only when dry; wet fruit goes down within a few hours 

 from disease, settles greatly in the boxes, and is decidedly un- 

 attractive. 



Pick the fruit with the greatest care, using the thumb and 

 two fingers. Unskilled pickers hold quantities of fruit in the 

 hand after picking, partially crushing it before it reaches the 

 box. Place the berries gently in the box instead of dropping 

 them from a distance. 



Pick directly into the boxes in which the fruit goes to mar- 

 ket. For red raspberries, these should be pint baskets, since 



