14 
BULLETIN 714, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
improvement when possible in methods of harvesting, separating, 
sorting, and packing cranberries. 
HAE VESTING. 
Careful experiments in which the keeping quality of hand-picked 
cranberries was compared with that of scooped berries have not 
shown any very decided advantage in favor of either method, pro- 
vided the scoopers were not allowed to pick up dropped berries from 
the ground. 
A series of tests in Xew Jersey in the fall of 1916 showed that the 
keeping quality of these dropped berries was much inferior to that 
of berries picked or scooped from the vines. The results of these 
tests are summarized in Table VIII. The experiment with Early 
Black cranberries was conducted by Mr. Franklin S. Chambers. 
Adjacent similar plats of each variety were marked on the bog; then 
the berries from half the plats were picked by hand by experienced 
pickers and the remainder harvested by experienced scoopers. All 
berries were stored for two months in ventilated 1-bushel boxes in 
adjacent piles in a ventilated storage house. 
Table VIII. — Effect of different methods of harvesting upon the keeping quality 
of cranberries, as shown by tests made in Xew Jersey in 1916. 
Method of harvesting. 
—i +5 to 
O'Sn 
Condition noted (per cent). 
Variety. 
Immediately after 
harvesting. 
Rotten 
after 
beinc 
stored 2 
months. 
Rot 
Slightly 
bruised. 
Rotten. 
developed 
in storage. 
Early Black 
Picked 
1,168 
1.034 
171 
1G4 
38 
425 
384 
41 
C 1 ) 
C 1 ) 
12 
IS 
34 
C 1 ) 
(') 
6 
5 
6 
-1 
-1 
-1 
12 
14 
17 
12 
25 
4.5 
4.2 
1S.1 
Scooped 
Picked 
11 
Do. . 
T)o 
Picked up after scoopers . . 
Picked 
19 
Howe .... 
3.5 
Do 
Scooped 
3.2 
Do. 
Picked up after scoopers . . 
17.1 
1 Not determined. 
Berries picked up from the ground after scooping, as Table VIII 
shows, bore a much higher percentage of the slight injuries men- 
tioned above than did any of the other fruit, and, as was to be 
expected, this was the cause of their poor keeping quality. It seems 
from this evidence that if dropped fruit is picked up from the 
ground it should be kept separate, in order not to lower the grade or 
keeping qualky of all the berries. 
It is probable that neither method of harvesting can be said to be 
best under all conditions, but that factors other than keeping quality, 
such as length and uniformity of pine growth, will influence or de- 
termine the method to be preferred in any particular locality. 
