210 WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
the fruit. They are more careful, more anxious to make it 
pay, and are better workers, and will generally pick from three 
to six quarts per hour. This, of course, depends upon how 
well the bushes are loaded. The price usually paid is from 
two and a half to four cents per quart. Most pickers require 
some training, and will need a careful person in the field to 
direct them. 
In gathering, care should be taken to pick all the ripe fruit, 
for berries left a day or two after they are in proper condition 
will become over-ripe, and when packed will mould quickly 
and injure the sound ones. Green fruit will sour quicker than 
that which is thoroughly ripe. Avoid all bruising or pressing 
of the berries, or much loss will be incurred in transportation. 
Do not pick when the berries are wet with rain or dew. 
Propagation .—When the extreme tips of the strongest canes 
or branches reach the ground and are free from leaves, and of a 
reddish color, they are ripe and fit to layer. To insure well* 
rooted plants, with a good germ or bud, this must be done 
properly. The time when it should be done varies, but is 
usually from the last of August to the 25th of September. 
The method we practice is to make a hole in the ground with 
a dibble or hoe, under or near the tip to be layered, at an angle 
of forty-five degrees; place the tip into the hole about two 
inches, as seen in Fig. 2, representing a branch laid down ; 
press the earth down, leaving the ground level. If the weather 
is favorable they will root in three or four weeks. At the end 
of six weeks you will have a good plant ready to set, with 
plenty of fibrous roots, three to eight inches long. Plants may 
be set out in the fall by covering with a small forkful of ma¬ 
nure or other litter, but I prefer spring planting. 
Wrong Propagation .—It is a common practice to cover the 
end of the cane as it lays on the surface of the ground, the 
end passing on through the loose covering of earth. Instead 
of the germ forming where it should (at the end of the cane), 
fruit buds are forced into germs, and a few roots are scattered 
