Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1890-12-12
CRANBERRYING.
THE MERRY PICKING SEASON IN
THE WISCONSIN BOGS.
Berry Gatherers of Both Sexes wear
High Rubber BOots-The In
dians Pick the Fastest
Rustic Merry Makings.

The most interesting feature of cram
berry culture is the process of picking
it. The whortleberry (or buckleberry)
pickers in Ulster County, New York,
likewise constitute very peculiar con-
plomerate during the short time when
tbev are in full blast. But they pick
their huckleberries on their own account
and sell them to whom they please while
the Wisconsin cranberry pickers work
for the owners of the soil, receiving
stated price for their toll. About the
middle of September these pickers begin
TO arrive in droves from all over the
State. Shanties and larger barracks that
have been erected by the landowners can
then be seen on the dry summit OF hill
locks. rising here and there from amidst
the swampy berry soil. And in them the
pickers of both sexes are accommodated
rs best they may. In former years 1t
often happened that $500 to SOOO pick
ers worked for fortnight or so for one
large owner OF extensive cranberry tracts
but to-day the land has been more sub
divided and the crops are no longer so
abundant. and about thousand IS now
the largest number Of people employed
nv anv one man. There are very few
native Americans among this crew Of
pickers. For the larger part, they are
Germans and Poles, thickly settled III
that part of Wisconsin, with a good
sized sprinkling of Winnebago and other
Indians. Despite the fact that there are
sharply defined race differences between
those pickers, the utmost harmony rules
nearly always among them. Exactly the
same work and exactly the same pay, as
we'll as the same amusements at the end
of each work day, bring all these people
of different blood and belief together on
terms of amicable intercourse.
The work is not very easy. 1t begins
at sunrise, and the crowds Of pickers,
clad in all sorts of ways, on their way to
work afford a picture glowing with life
and color and worthy Of the brush OF a
great artist. Nearly all the men, and
many of the women as well, wear broad
rimmed straw hats as a protection from
the fierce rays Of the midday sun. The
German and the Polish women wear fire.
quently nothing but a clean, gaudy-col-
ored handkerchief around their heads,
while many of the Indian and American
girls in the crowd sport the familiar sun
bonnet, effective if not pretty. The rest
of the clothing worn is as simple as pos
sible, but everybody, man and woman,
wears water-tight shoes or boots. These
are essential or the wet soil they work on
all day, and nearly every one takes also
change of clothes along, to be donned
and worn on the way home after the day
is done. Arrived on the cranberry field,
the pickors are told off in divisions ot
forty each, and an overseer is appointed
over each one of these gangs. Then each
picker gets a box, which holds exactly
one bushel, and a smaller vessel, nat
milk pan, into which to gather the ber-
ries. Then everybody begins work on
the spot assigned to him or her, kneels
down. and while the bushel box is placed
to one side Of the picker the pan IS held
in the hard. As soon as a bushel has
been picked it is delivered over to the
oyerseer, who gives in exchange for 1t
card. and the latter may be cashed in the
evening or any other time. As the day
wears on the ranks of the gangs begin to
thin out and the rows become uneven.
The quick and skillfuI ones are soon way
ahead of their fellows As in everything
else it is practice and manual dexterity
that fell in this sort Of labor, and many
of the pickers fill bushel box twice as
fast as Others. Some pick ten bushels
day. Others but five, four and even three:
The earnings of these pickers thus vary
from 81. so to SO. The price paid per
bushel likewise differs. In some cases 1t
is fifty cents, in Others not more than
thirty cents. The Indians pick the fast
est while they do work, but they lack
application. Many of them will be tired
of work for the day after earning fifty
cents barely, and will cash their pickings
and then spend the remainder of the day
in idleness. The Germans, though slower
than the Poles, generally net the largest
earnings.
As the sun goes down work gradually
ceases. The pickers return to their camp
where substantial meal awaits them
prepared by some of their number, depu-
tized and paid for the purpose or else
is quickly prepared. And thea the iun
begins. No intoxicating liquor IS al
lowed in the camp, and no games oil chance
either. But fiddler, an accordian player
or some other amateur musician Is at
ways among the crowd, and dancing be-
,ins. No feeling of weariness as soon as
he first notes of stirring melody are
card. Everybody joins in, young and
Ia. man and woman and child, and
firth reigns supreme, often until an ad-
anced hour. A sort Of authority Is
lsually exercised by the veterans among
ne crowd, and often committee is ap-
pointed to see to it that no trouble may