The new North-west., 1885-10-23
1885. ss.~ :.1 ~s WHOLE NO. $50:
PICKLE-PARADISE.
THE BACk-AcHlNG WORK OF PLUCK
ING cucUMBERS from THE VINE.
An Old Farmer Thinks There Is Not
Enough Money In "Cukes"-At
Work In the Field-The
Pickling business.
[Cor. New York Sun.l


SomJ Of the cucumber fields Of Westches-
ter cJuity are many acres in extent, while
there SO. us to be scarcely farmer who has
not devot.d at least acre or two to Gu.
cumber growing. Where the ground planted
l. not too low the alternating showery and
sunshiny days Of the past few weeks have
greatly oeneittad this crop. The hillsides
and meadow slopes are every where patched
brightly with tbs vivii gresn OF the close
ciinging, notwithstanding vines, and
day after day, weather permitting, the
stopping figures OF men and boys are to be
seen grop.nz laboriously along, early aud
late, through tho fields 1t is hard, back
aching work, too, requiring keen eye to
select the appropriate sizes at glance,
while brushing the concealing leave' apart
with ons hanI and plucking the vegetables
with the other.
NOT VERY PROFITABLE.
And the worst of it il that it Is poorly
paid labor. Experienced youngsters can
not make more than so cents day at II
with the hardest kind of application, while
the growers themselve, who this year
obtiiu only 81 a thousand from the sailing
establishments, have to get great crop to
be certain Of anything like satisfactory re-
turns from their outlay aud labor.
Il have over and over again said to my
self," observed an old farmer, shat
would never waste any more time and
patience over 'cukes' The price has
dropped so low that it would be almost as
we'll to let the land be fallow, or seed 1t
down for winter fodder. But then haven't
much stock to keep on the fodder, and here
/ am still puttsring at the cukes, and sup
pose next year will find me still at it"
He stood in a lonely roadway. surrounded
by old barrels, into which he was counting
and packing cucumbsrs. Soms Of the bar.
rels were already full with the contents
roughly chalked on their sides-l, 150 on this
one, ,275 on that, |, 800 on the next, and 80
ON. His four sons two young men grown
and two urchins, together with Q German
farm laborer, were creeping gingerly and in
bent attitudes but with nimbls hands, each
with bushel basket at his side, among the
vne-tangled little mounds Of a four acre
field Just the other side Of the roadside fence.
The iel / also contained rude shed cover.
ing several shelves and platforms heapsd
with cucumbers, where q broad-hatted,
pleasent-featured young girl was asserting
them into conformable sizes for barreling.
A gable of the farmers barn, reddish brown
OF hue, peeped over a rise in the road, and
down the road another OF the farmers sons
wa coming along with a double team to
carry fresh load to the mile.away station
OIL the Harlem railroad. The sun was
nearly at meridian in a cloudless sky, and
intensely hot
GATHERING THEM IN.
"Do you never try pickling the cucumbers
on your own account" asked the reporter:
mo; it wouldn't pay, or half pay" said
the fBrmer: "be ,ides, the picking Is never
done here in the country, but only the salt
t. F.as ~ hnu
noticed hero and there about the villages are
simply salting houses, where the cukes are
put away in brine. They are nearly all
owned by great picking firms in New York,
where the picking is done at their leisure
or convenience. Cukes ara big crop this
year. We picked 5000 yesterday, to-day's
picking will be about the same, and we
shall pick 1000 or IL, 600 tomorrow. Then,
the next day being Sunday, on the Monday
following we ought to get out at least 2O,-
00O If 1t doesn't rain.
"And SO it goes to the end OF the season,
which u a short one. Some raise nothing
but gherkin. small specie used exclu-
sively for picking. but they are moro
trouble to grow than the ordinary cukss,
and don't believe they ara worth any more
as q crop But, for the reasons have given
you, there's mighty little money In cukes Of
any sort. OF course, / mean for the grow
ers But suppose the market must be also
slow with the picklers themselves, or they'd
be willing to give more for the cukes."
When freshly picked and heapsd together
in large quantities the cucumbers emit q
very agreeable odor, though it is insignih-
cant compared with that Of the early ap.
piles, whose perfume is very strong and
delicious Notwithstanding the ravagss OF
the apple worm, the early apples are now
being sent to New York in enormous guam
titles; and as they are mostly shipped with
the heads Of the barrels uncovered, one can
scent a wagon-load of them on the lonely
country roads several rods away, while the
great heaps Of the gathered fruit lie under
the orchard trees ready for barrsling make
the air redolent with a rich fragrance that
is especially fascinating to city-brs nos
trils. The winter apple crop promises to be
much better than was anticipated at the
blossoming. It was feared then that the
miller worm had badly damaged it.
A Civil Engineer the Panama Canal.
Chicago Journal .
The great Panama canal scheme is so far
exceeding the estimates Of its cost, and is
meeting such unexpected obstacles, that it,
general collapse Il threatened. A Clevs-
land, Ohio, civil engineer, just from Colon.
Gays that there are uimi taxable indications
that the money Is giving out Not nearly
60 many men are employed, nor are tbs
operations on SO liberal and gigantic q scale
as formerly. Many of tbe Jamaicans have
left On account Of the late insurrection.
when they were so roughly handled by the
Colombians, and they are just beginning to
get over their terror Of the place.
A drawback not taken into much account
by the French engineers was the pre- valencs
Of heavy rains during the rainy season.
The rain descended In torrents, washing
hack the earth into the canal and compell-
ing the dredges to do their work over again.
II Is estimated that fully ons-third Of the
dredging has to be done over again every
season. As the contract with the French
compsls them to bank the earth when dis
charged through the shoot pipes the loss
does not fall on the American contractors,
who have the contract for dredging. Slides
occur in heavy rains all along the line.
At Culebra, where the canal has TO be cut
500 feet In depth through the center cut the
rain has washed bacs rocks, mud and
debris and the work OF cutting through the
hard limestone Is delayed in consequences.
Engineers estimate that il will take at least
tan years to finish this cut, with no draw
l# ....Hs