St. Landry democrat., 1889-07-20
Picking and Shipping Small Fruit.

In this branch of horticulture, as in
most others, no one can usually adopt in
| all respects the practice of another, nc
matter how admirably said practice may
suit the conditions under which it is
employed. We may, however, often
obtain useful hints from the methods of
others.
To begin with, secure your packages
early. 1t is better to have them on hand
three months before they are needed than
to have to wait three days when you do
need them. The style of package used
will depend largely upon the manner of
| marketing. We use the two-bushel Gin
| cinnati stand of four half bushel drawers,
for strawberries, currants, cherries, black
raspberries and blackberries, as we whole
sale entirely, and commission merchants
prefer these packages -grocers usually
liking to buy their berries in this form,
as it saves them all trouble with baskets
| and allows them to measure out 10 to 20
quarts, frequently, from half bushel
drawer. They are also preferred by the
trade because they are uniform and inter
changable, like silver dollar, and can be
bought and sold with the berries without
the trouble of returning. The growers
here also give them preference because
they are cheap and handy.
The berries are picked in quart baskets,
four of which are carried in frame with
handle made for that purpose, and on
being brought to the packing shed are at
once emptied into the drawers, so that if
there is any fraud in picking it is at once
detected. 1t is much less work packing
a large quantity of berries, as the baskets
are usually little too full or too empty to
pack in crates, trays will not always fit,
ETC., so we find it makes difference of
several hands in packing 80 to 1875 bushels
per day. We do not begin picking until
the berries are dry ; two pickers to each
row are usually assigned, one to each
side. Where the patch is long, draw
wool line across the center of the field,
and pick one end one day and the other
end the next, having the packing shed in
the center of the field, or one at each end
of the field.
Except in excessively hot weather the
berries are left in the packing shed, which
is airy and usually in the shade of tree,
until they are loaded for market. We
usually expect our pickers to carry their
berries to the packing shed, which is close
by. When the ground is wet and of
noaVy Haturo udDle 10 pack, IL m1gnt De
advisable to adopt the plan in use at
GAINESVILLE and some other places, and
have persons for the purpose of carrying
the fruit from the pickers to the packing
house, as it might in some degree prevent
tramping and packing the soil. think,
however, as rule, the pickers are rested
by the change of position in carrying in
their own baskets.
We use printed tickets of different de-
nominations to pay the pickers. These
tickets are cashed at stated times only. AS
we have work for our p1ckers from the
earliest strawberry until blackberries are
gone, we can pay off every week without
fear of losing our pickers unfit about the
close of the blackberry season, when we
withhold portion of their wages until we
are done.
We aim to impress on the minds of our
teamsters that stands of berries must be |
handled with the utmost care, and pickers
are discharged who persist in MASKING their
berries instead of swapping them off. Do
not allow the sun to shine on berries of
any kind long after being picked. 1t in
lures them and destroys the gloss. For
retailing by the grower, the crates holding
bhirty-two quart boxes are, of course,
preferable to the stands mentioned
". Farnsaoo''tt, IN Country Gentleman.