Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1894-02-01
Something About Cranberries,

cranberry runs the fish that named
the place hard in the affections oi
the people. 1t does as much now to-
ward supporting them, and it Is the
only thing to eat that that desert was
ever known to produce
Jersey grows cranberries, too, and
the picking business is more pictur-
esuue than on the Cape. There the
.'home folks manage, 10y turning all
the men, women and children into the
boys, TO handle the crop, and, as
everybody knows, there is nothing eX-
citing about the native Cape Codrr.
He is a suitable subject for Miss VIII
kiu's pen, but hardly for Rider Hag-
CARDS.
But in Jersey, around Cranberry
Centre aud Pine Ridge, the picking Is
done by "a wild and vagrant class,
mauy of whom manage to get along
with no visible means of support all
the wear till the time comes that they
can work in the hop fields or the
cranberry bogs.
Tie worst of the work is the stoop-
ing. Many of the men have their
knees capped with leather, and move
about more or less without getting up
About a third of the pickers at Pine
Ridge aud thereabOut are women,
aud it is noticeable that they are III
every way less systematic at their
work then the men; they stoop, they
bend to their knees, they sit down on
the ground for a change
They pick Us fast as the men first
part cf the day" said the buyer, who,
in a shed at the edge Of the bog was
measuring fruit, but they give out
sooner. But they come out of the
season with more money than the
men, for they don't throw it away so
fast
MANY of the pickers there are col
ored people, and many are Italians.
and with both, gambling Is great
pastime. They stop during the day
10 gamble with their "tic>ets.' These
tickets are given them instead OF
money by the buyer aud are redeem
able once Il week.
The actual picking is done in pals
or baskets slung around the neck
these are emptied as filled into BIZ
fiat. wooden box that can be swung
comfortably on the back. When 1t Is
filled it i, sluug there, and SO carried
to the buyers shed. \ bushel OF
berries is small load and bushei
aud IA half good siz~d one.
In most Of this region the cranberry
is still regarded as sent by the grace
of God, one man having "a good II
riyh1 TO it rs another. Pickers, who,
under thi, sort OF squatter sovereign
", own their berries, get THIS Tall hity
cents "a bu>hel tor them Some OF the
men eau pick three bushels aud more
in day. But many of them shorl en
their labors by game OF seven up III
the woods after they have taken IN a
couple of bushels.
Many of the colored people live in
cabins around the boz -lants. and
some of them board other pickers
during the cranberry seuson-S2 90 Il
week is u popular price.
In other parts OF Jersey, the boys
and their products are treated n pri
vate property, aud then the picking Il
done by children and neighbors mann
Iv There is no such chance to make
money as the wild bogs afford. aud
strangers are not drawn 10 the work.
Things are managed on this plan, too,
AT Cape Cod. But, though on the
Cane hired laborers picking IN private
bogs. 80 to speak, get onl! twenty five
cents a bushel, the discrepancy l. not
so great as it seems Picking can be
done faster in these private bogs; the
plauts are in better condition, largely
because oil more CdItAui hoHNiiH7 u"
previous picking seasons, they grow
more thickly, and the culture that Is
bestowed upon item results in bigger
berries and more of them.
Il tell you said West street mer-
chant. who goes into crauberries deep,
as he puts it, aud who visited Cape
Cod in the beginning OF the season TO
examine the crop, there isn a pref
tier sight than some Of those culiiva-
ted bogs down there, after the berries
are ripe. You see the bushes, vines
thev call them mostly there, aud they
are neither bushes nor vines, asa mat
ter of fact-well, whatever you cail
them, they amt big enough, aud
haven't enough leaves To hide the
berries, and they just show up red
and bright in the sun, over miles OF
country, till it's prettier than any
flowers. The girls pick down there,
and sometimes they'll put some eer-
ries on the stem in their dresses or In
their hair. and when they are good
looking it looks nice, | tell you. You
have seen those Immense big erau-
4. u