June, 1889. 
122 
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Picking and Marketing Strawberries. 
June brings to the small-fruit grower the 
beginning of returns from his labors. It is 
an important month and is mostly devoted 
to the harvesting and marketing of the 
strawberry crop. Here is required quite as 
skillful and careful management as in the 
growing of the fruit and a system of care- 
lessness or neglect of a personal attendance 
to all its details will very seriously curtail 
the profits from the crop. 
Pickers should be sought early and en- 
gaged in advance; they should be sufficient 
in number to go over the plantation daily, 
and the poorest pickers gradually weeded 
out. It is not desirable to employ very 
small children for this work, women and 
girls make better pickers, as a rule, than 
Ixiys. A capable overseer is needed above 
all things, or better yet, let the owner him- 
self follow up the pickers and see that the 
vines are picked cleanly of all ripe berries. 
Occasionally a basket of berries should be 
dumped that it may be seen if any fraud is 
being perpetrated. There are many pick- 
ers who hesitate not a moment in placing 
green berries, leaves, etc., at the bottom of 
their baskets and topping off with fine 
fruit. Only firm treatment at the start 
will remedy this and other evils. The of- 
fender should be promptly discharged and 
forbidden to come again upon the grounds. 
This with an occasional inspection of their 
baskets may keep them straight, but some 
pickers are incorrigible. 
The price paid for picking varies some- 
what according to locality and character of 
work. One and a half cents per quart is 
about the usual rate. Where there is good 
picking, that is. good sized berries and plen- 
ty of them, one cent a quart should be am- 
ple compensation and a smart picker can 
make good wages at it. To retain the pick- 
ers and prevent them from leaving after 
the best picking is over, it is advisable to 
keep back one week’s pay which is to be 
paid only at the close of the work. On 
many small-fruit farms, by good manage- 
ment, the same pickers are kept all through 
the berry season, taking up in their turn 
currants, raspberries and blackberries. 
In handling the fruit itself there are a 
few little cautions which it is well to keep 
in mind. Do not begin to pick in the 
morning until the berries are dry, never 
pick them whilst wet, either from dew or 
rain. They should be picked with short 
stems and the baskets properly faced and 
slightly rounded up, that is, the top layer of 
berries turned with the face up and the 
calyx down. It is its appearance that 
sells the fruit. Allow no green berries to 
be put in the baskets, neither soft nor over- 
ripe ones. When the crates are full, keep 
them in a shaded spot, out of the sun, with 
space between them to permit of a current 
of air. The best sized crates are those hold- 
ing 32 square quarts or, for fine fancy ber- 
ries. those of 45 round pints. The planta- 
tions should be picked over daily so as to 
allow no fruit to become over-ripe. As 
soon as the berries are well colored up they 
should be picked. Whether or not to make 
two grades of berries must be determined 
by the owner himself, in view of the char- 
acter of his markets, etc. When berries 
are assorted the seperation should be done 
by the picker at time of picking, the num- 
ber ones being put in one basket and the 
smaller ones in another. 
In marketing the crop it will be found 
profitable to give considerable attention to 
the home market. A prompt supply will 
always increase the demand but the grower 
should be just, and sell to his neighbors at 
the same net price he expects to receive 
from the city markets and not to try and 
get more, as is too often the case. Keep a 
daily record of sales and consignments 
made and accompany each shipment with 
invoice stating number of crates and con- 
tents. Charge each consignee with the 
crates and credit him when returned; at 
the close of the season insist upon payment 
for any crates not returned and when such 
a well-kept record can be produced, few 
first-class houses will refuse. It is better 
to fix upon one or two trustworthy com- 
mission merchants and consign all to them 
than to divide shipments up into a number 
of little lots. There are trustworthy com- 
mission men who do good service to their 
customers. Such old established houses as 
that of E. & O. Ward, 279 Washington St., 
New York city, will gladly give daily re- 
ports concerning the market and such oth- 
er advice as may be desired. This firm 
issues a Circular giving important advice 
as to the shipments of fruit and other 
produce which it may pay our fruit-grow- 
ing readers. 
High Culture and Pruning Necessary. 
The late E. P. Roe used to say that the 
secret of success in small fruit culture 
might be found in two words, stimulation 
and restriction. By stimulation he meant 
a thoroughly pulverized and enriched soil. 
This is especially essential to the strawber- 
ry, the foreign raspberry and all the cur- 
rants. A rampant-growing raspberry, like 
the Cuthbert or Turner, and our vigorous 
blackberries, do not require stimulation, 
but they do restriction. By restriction he 
meant the development of fruit rather than 
wood or vines. Set out a strawberry plant 
in very deep, rich, moist soil, and its ten- 
dency is to follow the great law of nature 
and propagate itself ; but to the degree that 
it makes plants it cannot make fruit. Cut 
off every runner, and enormous fruit buds 
1 are developed. The sap is dammed up 
as a miller restricts a stream, and the re- 
sult is strawberries that are double in size 
and quantity. This is equally true with 
raspberries. Currant bushes crowded with 
wood bear little fruit. 
Work of tlie month. 
In June the vineyard may seem to need 
but little attention, but there is always 
something to do. It is then that the spray- 
ing is to be done to prevent mildew and 
rot; the solutions to be used, and the appar- 
atus to apply it with, have been given in 
this journal, so that it need not be here 
mentioned. 
In northern latitudes the blue beetle may 
still be doing mischief, and will need watch- 
ing. The young vines are to be tied up as 
thev grow, so as not to be blown about by 
high winds, tearing the foliage. The bear- 
ing vines should be tied with willow to the 
vines. I find that wire, similar to that 
used in binding grain is just the thing, if 
cut into lengths long enough to reach 
around the cane and the trellis. This will 
not allow the vines to slip along the wires 
when a strong wind blows parallel with the 
rows. Soft poppard, or bass bark, makes 
good material for tying up the young canes. 
Raffia is still better if it is available. 
Some few years ago a writer stated that 
in his opinion it was the overcrop that 
brought on the rot, but in this he is not 
quite correct. Forewarned, forearmed, is 
an old saying and I am both, yet will use 
the paper sacks, on all the choice varieties 
as soon as the fruit is set. Without this 
precaution I am not sure of securing any 
perfect bunches on account of the orchard 
orioles. Although the gun is freely used 
there are still some birds that escape, and 
as soon as the grapes begin to color they 
are at them. A single half dozen of these 
birds wifi demoralize half an acre of vine- 
yard. Where no bees are kept near, a 
slight puncture in a berry may dry and not 
spoil in dry weather; but where thirty col- 
onies of bees are in rifle shot of the vine- 
yard, a punctured grape is soon a dried 
husk. A few years ago the orioles, cat birds 
and thrushes ruined my raspberry patch, and 
very nearly did the same with the grapes, 
but we have not allowed any of these three 
birds to breed here for two years, and now 
they do not stop with us. This avowal will 
doubtless call forth much censure from 
some of the bird protectors, w T ho look only 
on the surface, but I have been a close ob- 
server, and am willing to give all tilings a 
chance. If I have to fight the curculio, and 
other insects in the vineyard, without any 
benefit from these birds, I cannot see why 
they shall be allowed to destroy my fruit 
unmolested. 
All superfluous buds starting on the vines 
should be rubbed out promptly as they are 
of no use at all. At every bud there is a 
latent one held in reserve, which will de- 
velop if the bud proper should be injured; 
this often starts out in addition and in such 
cases should always be rubbed off. — Sam- 
uel Miller. 
