1912. 
GRAPE HARVESTING. 
How the Work is Done in New York State. 
The grape, unlike the apple and peach, should be 
picked when full ripe, as it does not improve in ripe¬ 
ness once picked, but rather deteriorates in quality. 
Unripe grapes do more to injure a market than all 
other imperfections of cluster, package, etc. Quite 
frequently the market for Concords is materially in¬ 
jured by reason of unripe Wordens of the latter pick¬ 
ings being sold as Concords. The writer has sam¬ 
pled grapes from the first Worden picking that were 
fit only for the garbage can. Worden is one of the 
best grapes when ripe, but when not, the least said the 
better. It is next to impossible to judge the fitness 
for picking by trusting the eye alone to determine it. 
Taste is the only sure way; especially is this the case 
with the black varieties. With the white and red the 
eye will assist materially, but the final test is the 
taste. Here a knowledge of the particular flavor 
characteristics of the varieties in question is indis¬ 
pensable. For example, we should never 
except the flavor of Moore’s Early to 
reach the perfection of the Concord 
flavor, nor the Niagara the Winchell. 
The grower who is trying new varie¬ 
ties doubtless knows about the season 
for his varieties, but this will vary from 
year to year, so that in the end it be¬ 
comes a matter of the eye and the 
tongue to tell him just the time to pick. 
Very often unripe fruit gets on the mar¬ 
ket as a result of the rivalry of grow¬ 
ers to get their fruit there first in order 
to command the usual early high prices. 
Grapes on different soils ripen a week 
or 10 days apart for the same variety. 
That is as a rule the Concord on 
gravelly loam will ripen a week earlier 
than on the heavier soils, so that the 
Concord on clay soils should be on the 
market a week later. 
In large commercial grape areas it is 
not left to the grower to decide when 
he will begin his picking; the selling or¬ 
ganization buyers and juice factories 
will settle that question for him. He is 
informed that buyers are loading a car 
of Wordens at such and such station, 
or that the selling association will load 
a car on Wednesday, and he meets the 
situation by getting in his quota, believ¬ 
ing that he will profit more than delay¬ 
ing two or three days, but as it is cus¬ 
tom that they must undergo inspection 
before loading, he will not as a rule 
take a chance of having his grapes re¬ 
fused. The grape juice factories are 
very particular as to the degree of ripe¬ 
ness, and also as to the care in hand¬ 
ling from the vine to the plant. Their 
edicts informs you that you may begin 
picking September 25, beginning with 
those on the gravel. No red grapes 
will be accepted, as they are deficient 
in sugar. 
Wordens should have at least two 
pickings, and three is better. It is im¬ 
practicable to leave those first ripe un¬ 
til the remainder are fit, as the skin 
being so tender is liable to crack, mak¬ 
ing shipping long distances impossible. 
Concord and Niagara can usually be 
handled in one picking. Delaware 
should be gone over twice. 
Picking is usually done in crates hold¬ 
ing from 20 to 25 pounds. Sometimes 
the grapes are picked and packed in 
eight-pound baskets in the vineyard, while the 20- 
pound baskets are always packed in the field, but as 
the greater tonnage goes in the eight-pound baskets, 
the greater amount of packing is done in the packing 
house. The crates are scattered at frequent intervals 
throughout the rows. A crate is placed on a folding 
table or stand about two feet high, two pickers usually 
picking into the same one. The stem of the cluster 
is grasped by the thumb and forefinger of the left 
hand, letting the side and apex of the cluster rest 
against and in the upturned palm and then the stem 
is cut above the point held, with a pair of grape 
shears held in the right hand. The cluster is then 
transferred carefully to the crate. If the crate is to 
be shipped more care is exercised in placing the clus¬ 
ters so that there will be no slack, and the fruit will 
not be injured by jolting. The same care is exercised 
when eight and 20-pound baskets are packed in the 
vineyard. In this case the baskets are taken to a central 
THE RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
point, where they are faced and covered. If the 
grapes are to be shipped from the vineyard direct to 
the juice factory, or in baskets to the markets, green, 
decayed or bruised berries are cut out by the pickers, 
but if they are to go to the packing house all this 
trimming is left for the packers. It is obvious that 
more time is required to get off equal amounts of 
grapes when picking and packing is done in the field. 
The crates should not be picked too full, but just 
enough so that when one crate is placed on another 
it will hold the grapes in the lower firmly without 
crushing. When the crate is filled it is set under the 
wire in the shade and out of the way of the grape 
truck that picks them up later. When picking for the 
juice factory or into the baskets a crate should be left 
alongside for unripe and bruised clusters. This dis¬ 
card is sold for making cheap sour wines. Some who 
are opposed to wines and winemaking feed it to the 
hogs. As often as necessary the baskets are collected 
and carried to the place where they are faced and 
covered. They are then loaded on large wagons, and 
as soon as a load is obtained drawn to the shipping 
station. If the market happens to be a little off that 
day the load may be held over till the next, but the 
shrinkage over night becomes a factor. Each load is 
weighed at the station and a slip, giving the seller’s 
name, the net weight, variety and car number is given 
to the seller. 
The crates are picked up as fast as the occasion 
demands and drawn to the packing house, where they 
are piled several high. The ends of the crates are 
a little higher than the sides, so that there is a free 
circulation of air over the fruit. Here they are allowed 
to wilt from 24 to 48 hours, when they are ready for 
the packers. Care should be taken not to pick while 
the grapes are wet, and not to allow them to get 
wet after picking. If the season has been a wet one 
the skins are very tender, and picking while wet or 
allowing them to get wet afterward results in many 
867< 
broken skins and bruised berries. From fruit picked 
under such conditions the grower is quite likely to get 
word that his shipment arrived leaking badly. 
Careful handling by the pickers, by the ones who 
handle from the vineyard to the packing house, and 
careful intelligent packing are necessary in order to 
deliver a No. 1 package at the car. f. e. gladwin. 
THE PROBLEM OF FARM EDUCATION. 
On page 659 A. H. G., writing as a country high- 
school graduate, seems to be rather unnecessarily 
wrought up over the plan of teaching the boy on the 
farm some of the principles of agriculture while he 
is in the public school, thereby ‘‘keeping him in ignor¬ 
ance of everything but farming.” His words indicate 
that he has not exactly the right point of view. It 
has never been intended by the advocates of the intro¬ 
duction of agriculture into the public schools to 
“shackle the boy to the occupation of his father . . . 
by keeping him in ignorance of everything but farm¬ 
ing.” Neither is it planned to “blind his 
eyes to the glaring defects of farm life 
in some of the poorer communities” by 
a “few hours a week of high school in¬ 
struction in agriculture.” They recog¬ 
nize that, while the schools may not be 
the sole cause of the “repugnance which 
the country boy sometimes feels toward 
the farm,” yet the whole trend of the 
instruction is away from the farm; that 
the tendency is to cause the pupils to 
regard farming as a rather undesirable 
occupation, not to be compared with 
business pursuits or the so-called pro¬ 
fessions; that the subjects taught—many 
of them of no practical use in everyday 
life—serve mainly to prepare the pupil 
for some higher institution of learning 
and to “nip in the bud,” as it were, any 
liking he might have for farm life. 
They believe that the country public 
school, while doing this, is not fulfilling 
its proper function. They want the 
pupils to be brought to realize that 
farming is an occupation, calling or 
profession, as you choose, second to 
none in usefulness, dignity and honor; 
to have their eyes opened to the won¬ 
ders in plant and animal life about them; 
and to receive practical instruction in 
the principles of farming or agriculture. 
Surely this would not be keeping the 
farm boy “in ignorance of everything 
but farming”; nor, if he “feels that his 
talents call in other directions,” would it 
prevent him from availing himself of the 
“privilege.” Doubtless the instruction 
he had received in agriculture would 
help him in another calling, just as 
“wider experience in practical affairs 
should make for better farming.” 
It may be well to point out that while 
the family of the farmer who is in debt 
may “look pale and pinched,” there is a 
much larger proportion of city dwellers 
who show the effects of the “oppression 
of poverty” in their appearance. And 
the “glaring defects of farm life” are 
not nearly so apparent when viewed 
from a bookkeeper’s desk. However, I 
am not willing to believe that even the 
most enthusiastic “agricultural enthusi¬ 
ast” would wish to influence a young 
man to remain on the farm if he had 
no liking for the work and could not 
interest himself in its problems. 
Further, it is not necessary to lower 
“the standards of living” or to sacrifice “those finer 
qualities of life” on the farm. If some choose, in 
order to save money, to get along without the little 
refinements and comforts which some of us consider 
almost essential, why, let them. But we—the rest of us 
—don't need to emulate them; rather let us who take 
up farming follow those who have most nearly 
reached our ideal of success, remembering that true 
success consists not necessarily in the attaining of the, 
desired end but in honest striving. c. w. s. 
Maryland. 
There are still hen men who cannot believe that 
Baptiste Diabo can dress a chicken in one minute. It 
is now planned to have Mr. Diabo go to the farmers’ 
week at Cornell next Winter and demonstrate his 
skill before the crowd. There should be made some 
motion pictures showing how he does it. We are 
interested in proving any “big story” which appears 
in The R. N.-Y. 
PICKING AND PACKING 201b. BASKET OF GRAPES. Fig. 369. 
A SMALL ARMY OF “FRESH AIR” CHILDREN. Fig. 370. 
