Show harvesting HARVE STING AND PACKING STRAW strawberries BERRI ES I 1 U I 1 ayt X american quart boxes of well graded fancell Fan cyll on the right d no V an the the stage ot of maturity at which strawberries should be picked depends upon the distance they are to he be hipped shipped when grown tor for the local market they should be picked when ripe but not soft ot says a new now tamers farmers bulletin no ot of the united state states department ot of agrical ture it grown for a distant market the berries must be picked before they are thoroughly ripe but they should be fully grown and about three fourth fourths ripe it picked before they are colored the berries will brink shrink and wither ither making them unfit for sale St straw rasber berries should be picked with ith a short piece ot of stem stein attached about one fourth to one half halt inch they should never bie blI lipped slipped from tho tem stem as that spoils appearance and injures their shipping and keeping qualities grading and nd packing Pack lne uniformity la in the pack ie is essential in order to obtain high prices for strawberries and this can be secured only when the berries bare have been care fully graded and arted sorted some grow gros era have the berrie berries graded in the field A common practice la in some sections ie Is to pick the ripe berries of all grades toto the same box and when the tray s full to take it to the packing shed where the berries are sorted and packed the gr grader aderi dump the her ber ries on an a table and pick out all green overripe or small berries tho the others are placed la in the bums boats one ot of the graders arranging arran ing fing the top layers in such a it way ay that the berries show to beat best advantage nhen hen berries are packed in this manner care should be taken not to put the small inferior berrien berries in the center of tho box and the larff fine berries on top the fruit should be uniform throughout the box with the top layer merely placed to aid to the attractiveness of the pack and to bold hold the fruit in place where the fancy pack Is I 1 put up the berries should be divided into two tiao grades after the berries are picked the should be placed in the shade as coon soon as possible for heat beat injures the fruit la in a short time the pickers should not be allowed to leave the filled boxes along the row rows where the ter ries will be exposed to the eun bun tho the shorter the time tha th A elapses after the fruit Is picked before it Is put into refrigerator cars care or refrigerator boxes the better it Is in for the berrice berries which will continue to ripen rapidly until they are chilled large crates preferable many types of boxes and crates are u used for strawberries bul but the ten donor Is toward a standard full also quart box la in fact in several states it Is illegal to offer for sale a short box shipments to these markets dust must bo be bandied handled to conform with the laws lass the boxes now iq lq use are the ameri amerl can or standard quart berry box which holda holds a full quart the octagon box and the square scoreboard scale leboard board type of qui it and pint boxes the american type Is the one that Is to most gea gen brally used it Is to full site lie strongly made and packs well ell in the crate the octagon box Is objectionable oy cra ac count of its shape and the raised rallied hot torn tom A long narrow box la is not eat sat because it Is inconvenient to pick up without rai sides between the thumb and fingers and when handled bandied in this way the berries are tire likely to be mashed moreover the sides of boxes with raised bottoms often split off below the bottom caus tag the boxes to lp over the scale board boxes are cheaper than boxes but an ilia ho latter are more substantial they are preferred la in nearly all markets the type of 0 crate depends on the boxes used any crate substantially built and well yon v n dilated Is in satisfactory but cost Is an important consideration as they are not returned to the shipper tho largest crate that can ba b handled bandied conveniently Is to the one to us use as the large ones are cheaper in pro portion to the quantity of berries the they carry the 24 or 32 quart crate crates are ar generally used though in powe pee tlona the CD GO quart crate Is emp employed lovel crates with hinged bluis have ad ail ad vantage over others fa in that they pta ati vide tor for the inspection of the fruit to better advantage the hinged lid crate invites inspect lv nd this Is a point la in its favor 77 oft N W k crate of aroma aram a strawberries in octagon quart boxes twenty four quarto quart to the crate |