The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1885-07-01
PICKING THE STRAWBERRY.
Picturesque Scenes Among the Great Bedf
in Maryland and Virginia.

PICKING THE STRAWBERRY
Picturesque Scenes Among the Great Beda
in Maryland and Virginia.
When the berries begin to ripen in guam
titles large enough to ship, there occurs in
the various patches scene of the liveli-
est hustle and confusion. As early in the
morning as it is light enough to begin work,
scores, and even hundreds of 'pickers I"
swarm to the various fields and gather the
berries for market The train which carries
berries to New York leaves here about the
middle of the day and arrives in the city
early the next morning. A train leaves here
for Philadelphia somewhat later. Though
the most delicious of all berries when fresh,
the strawberry is SO soft and juicy that it
has to be eaten soon after it is picked or it
will be of very little account. To bring
anything like good price it is necessary
tssat they be sold at furthest the next day
asser they are gathered. Tho price paid
to the 'pickers is two cents a quartz
price sufficient to enable many of the more
expert ones to make very good wages for
this country. Frequently the more indus
trious aud skillful ones will pick from fifty
to seventy-fye quarts in the five or six hours
during which the work is done each day.
As negroes are very plentiful in this locality
it is they who are largely depended upon
to gather the crop, though many white
people, men, women and children, also en-
gage in picking. The group gathered in a
field for this purpose often presents a mot
ley Appearance. Many are the old camp
meeting hymns which the colored people
sing as they work. chorus of hundred
lusty voices coming from their powerful
lungs, all in perfect harmony and time, is
something worth listening to. In the larger
fields, where the number of pickers goes up
in the hundreds, there is no time when
some of them are not engaged in the sing
ing of these hymns. To those who have
never seen strawberries being gathered for
market it is impossible to convey any just
idea of the scene presented. The fields are
half covered with the bright red, juicy ber-
ries, and half with the green and white OF
vine and blossom. People of many kinds
scattered oil around, clad in all the various
colors of the rainbow, some gossiping and
laughing, others silent and intent upon
their work; some singing and even shout
ing, others morose and moody, thinking,
perhaps, of the folly of their companions
some coming, some going with trays filled
with the delicious fruit, made more tempt
ing MS they throw back the rays of the sun,
either perched on the head or carried in
the hand-all this goes to make up an in
eresting spectacle. The WHO'S affair pre-.
,ents panorama lively and picturesque in
the extreme.
There is always at least one superintend.
emit in every field whose duty is to count
the number OF quarts each picker brings in
and give checks therefor, which are re-
deemable in cash on presentation. 1t is
also the duty of the superintendent to see
that the berries are properly picked. Some
of these same piclsers are sharp fellows and
many are the tricks resorted to in order that
The baskets may be the more rapidly filled.
Pickers of that kind must be carefully
watched AS fast rs brought up the berries,
crates, same holding thirty-two, some forty.
five and others sixty quarts, and this work
is continued till the patch shall have been
gone over, or until there is barely time to
catch the traip by which they are conveyed
20 the cities. In the height of the season
very few of the growers are able to get theiI
sptire patches picked over every day,
though it is desirable that this be done and,
accordingly, the pickers are kept at work
ill there is barely time to get the berries on
board the train. As the time grows short
the hustle, the noise and the hurry increase.
At last the crates are closed, loaded on
vehicle and started for the depot, where cars
have been placed upon side track to re-
ceive the fruit.
As the time draws near for the train to
arrive which will take away the cars now
being loaded, the stream of wagons bearing
their huge burdens of fruit which must
either be shipped or perish grows longer
and more compact Each driver, in his
eagerness not to have his berries left, urges
up his already foaming and sweating steed
and passes as many others as he can in his
race to get to the cars. The local agents of
the city commission houses are numerous
and ubiquitous, all striving after the con-
tents of each wagon MS il drives up. With
cards, tacks, hammers, mucilage and rail
road manifests in hand, they run hither and
thither, calling to this man, driving off that
one sometimes begging and pleading, and
sometimes-I am sorry to say-cursing and
swearing. The train will soon be due, and
the last moment when the fruit be received
by the station agent is near at hand. Pan
lemonium is no name for what now ensues.
Horses, mules, oxen, wagons, drivers, ber-
ries, cars, commission agents and railroad
agents all get mixed up in seemingly in
extricable tumble, and the bewildered OBJ
server simply sits down at distance and
hopes for the best. A shrill whistle from
the approaching train announces that the
cars must soon be on their way to the city.
The confusion subsidies, for the agent will
receive no more manifests, the car doors are
closed, and If any have not succeeded in
getting their berries ON board they have
either to ship them ON other trains to nearer
markets or run the risk of finding market
at home. If in very good condition they
may be kept over until the next day. The
cars are then attached to the train and away
they go, bearing their load of the queen of
berries TO the great metropolis, whe:s thou
sands Of quarts arrive daily.
->-@os->
uNDERBRUSH IN AFRICAN FORESTS.
In travelling through the great forests Of
the Rocky Mountains or of the Western
States the broken branches and fallen trunks
strewing the ground breast high with oil
sorts Of decaying litter frequently make
locomotion impossible. To attempt to ride
through these Western forests, with their