482 



HANDLING GARDEN-CROPS FOR PROFIT. 



toes became more plentiful and were retailing in the 

 market at 25 and 30 cents a peck, I still got $1.75 a 

 crate, simply because the dealers had confidence in my 

 brand, and knew they etould deliver the crates to large 

 buyers at a price above the market value, solely because 

 every tomato counted. At the end of the season my 

 tomatoes, though all that ripened after August i were 

 closed out to a canning-house at 30 cents a crate, had 

 brought a great deal more per plant than any of my 

 neighbors', and I had a smaller freight-bill. At the same 

 time inferior tomatoes, like those which had cut down 

 their prices and reputation, had fed my hogs. 



Growers are fast coming to the conclusion that it pays 

 best to ship vegetables in crates of moderate size that 

 can be easily handled. Even the crop of early potatoes, 

 still largely shipped in barrels, will pay better sent in 

 crates, and growers who have tested the matter are using 

 crates for this crop. Plenty of city consumers will buy 

 a whole crate, who cannot handle a barrel of potatoes, 

 and potatoes in crates go off at better prices 



Neat and attractive packages are a great help in selling 

 anything. A set of square baskets fitted into a crate as 

 strawberries are packed, and each holding a peck or a 

 half peck of peaches, plums or summer apples, with a 

 few green leaves among them, will bring a great deal 

 better prices than the same fruit would if dumped into 

 one of the old rough crates holding nearly a bushel, and 

 cut and bruised by contact with the rough slats. Neat 

 gift-packages, honestly packed and honestly culled, with 

 tne honest grower's name plainly marked upon them, will 

 always pay and pay well. — W. F. Massey, Xorth Car- 

 olina. 



WHAT ELLWANGER & BARRY SAY. 



At present the pear-crop looks as if it would be 

 smaller than usual ; the fruit is dropping badly. Our 

 choice pears are put up in bushel-kegs, and the plums 

 in 15-pound baskets. As we do not grow peaches in 

 quantity, we cannot tell you what package is best for 

 that fruit. 



Our practice is to assort our fruit carefully and to 

 grade it judiciously. The best fruit we get high prices 

 for, and that of poorer quality we sell for what we can 

 get. — Ellwanger & Barry, Rochester, X. Y. 



CATERING TO THE BOSTON MARKET. 



Our vegetables are sent to the exacting Boston 

 market either in bushel or barrel-boxes. The bushel- 

 boxes are nine inches deep, and square 19x19 inches. The 

 barrel-boxes are 38x18 inches in length and width, and 

 loyi inches deep. By considering the number of bunches 

 or individual varieties contained in the standard boxes, 

 the buyer knows whether the size of the bunches is 

 right for his retail trade. Overgrown monstrosities and 

 uneven grading find little favor with dealers. 



Bunches of vegetables should be of a size convenient 

 and desirable for single sales. In the case of long 

 radishes, nine roots constitute a bunch, and each root 

 should be of a size that when bunched, 100 bunches will 

 fill a barrel-box. There is a knack in bunching radishes ; 



the tops should be tied with bass-grass not less than 

 three inches from the point where the top leaves the 

 root ; by so doing the bunch lies flat in the box and on 

 the retailer's counter. If tied much nearer the roots, 

 these, when exposed for sale, will stand erect like the 

 quills on a porcupine. 



Beets are tied four in a bunch, the bulbs or roots, how- 

 ever, differ in size as the time of their season is earlier 

 or later. The trade pays a much higher price for 

 beets early in the season when they are no larger in di- 

 ameter than a silver dollar, than later, when they should 

 be twice as large. The bunching season continues only 

 about three weeks, after which, the tops are wrenched 

 off and the roots exposed for sale in the bushel-box. The 

 trade will hardly touch a bunch of beets when they can 

 be purchased in the bushel form, simply because the 

 tops of bunched beets decay so rapidly. It is a singular 

 whim that the size of the beets when busheled should 

 not be so large as when they are bunched. Another pe- 

 culiarity about this crop is, that as soon as the time 

 comes for busheling, blood-red varieties like Dewing and 

 Edmands are wanted. During the bunching season, the 

 Bastian, or half-red variety, is sold because it is earlier. 



Peas are exposed for sale in bushel-boxes. The most 

 salable varieties are, for a first early, the many modifi- 

 cations of Daniel O'Rourke, all of which are strains 

 that have been bred for earliness by judicious selection 

 of seed. Clipper, Maud S. and First and Best, are 

 among the earliest yellow-seeded strains. These varie- 

 ties hold the market about ten days until displaced by 

 the second early variety, McLean Advancer. The first 

 earlies are then totally ignored by buyers. The variety 

 after once appearing can be said to hold the market the 

 remainder of the season. Stratagem is obtaining a 

 strong hold upon the market for a later variety, and it is 

 a truly fine pea, the pod somewhat resembling that of 

 the Lima bean. All of these varieties are of dwarf 

 growth ; the bush varieties have no favor with the com- 

 mercial market-gardener on account of the labor involved 

 in bushing. 



The leading variety of green or snap-beans is Dwarf 

 Yellow-eyed Cranberry. Its pod is thick, succulent, and 

 free from strings. Among wax-beans, the Golden Pod 

 Yellow-eyed Wax is the leading sort. Bushel-boxes are 

 used for packing them. Both string and wax-beans 

 should be washed before sending them to market. 



Tomatoes are exposed for sale in bushel-boxes, the top 

 layer being nicely faced. There is quite an art in facing 

 a box of tomatoes nicely. I have, however, made it 

 possible for inexperienced help to do this by knocking off 

 the bottom, setting the box upon some level surface like 

 a shutter, and laying the fruit within the box smooth side 

 down. After placing two layers, the remainder of the 

 box is filled promiscuously, and the bottom again nailed 

 on. Two men can overturn the box and the package 

 will be found to be nicely faced. The varieties of red 

 tomatoes are most salable. We think the Boston Market 

 tomato can be produced some ten days earlier than any 

 other. This is not what can be termed a smooth sort, 



