The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1894-12-22
THE cRANsERRY HARVEST.

How the Toothsome Relish is Prepared for
the Market.
Dld you ever see a cranberry bog?
Imagine a broad, level surface, wind
ing in and out among the low hills like
a lake, but green as a meadow. From
a swamp of huge cedars, such as had
C covered the site of the bog itself,
a little stream IAN down through the
center of the plain. At intervals banks
OF earth crossed the bog at right angles
to this stream, in which sluice-ways
were set, SO that the bitches that d.
vided ach section. like a ch~ess-board,
could be filed, or the whole bog turned
into a lake. The vines must be care
fully defended from the frost, and this
system of flooding accomplishes the
purpose perfectly. When the berries
arc ripening in the fall the ther-
mometer is carefully watched by those
in charge of the fields. Should the mer-
curry fall to thirty-four degrees Fahren-
heit the water is at once let in so as to
partly cover the vines; should it fall
even a degree lower the whole field is
at once completely submerged. The
vines are particularly subject to the
attacks of insects, worms and grubs in
the spring, and when these pests ap-
pear the meadows are flooded and the
creatures drowned. In the older por-
tons of the bog the vines covered the
ground like q thick carpet several
inches deep, but some parts, just set
out this summer, showed that they
planted only n vine about every two
and a half feet each way, and from these
all the others spread. A popularity
of the vine is that if you scatter
broadcast without any sort of care bits
of the vine six or eight inches long the
cuttings will take root and grow just
as if you had planted them. The vine
seems to love the water somehow,
though it will thrive in such arid soil.
In order that the crop shall be a sue
cess the whole meadow ought to lie
well under water from the beginning
to the close of the cold season.
Down among the vines the berries
lie, half hidden by their tiny ever
green leaves. After the dew had
evaporated a little. the pickers started
w "oih' haSh was gwen al Io", d
space for two to three feet wide and
generally reaching in length from the
edge of the bog to the main ditch.
Zach picker had a square box with an
IRON bail, holding a peck. The pickers
get down upon their knees, place the
box in front of them and scoop up the
berries with their hands. AS they
pick a space, the box is moved along.
Overseers keep a close watch that nc
berries are left by the picker, as the
vines are gone over but once
When the box is filled, the picker
either calls an overseer or carries If
himself to 4 spot on the bank where a
team "a easily drive in, and where a
large number of empty crates are piled.
Here his berries are empted into the
crete, and he is given a check, or peck
ticket" Four of these peck tickets ara
exchanged for a bushel ticket, and
->-se are cashed at fifty cents a bushei.
Oftentimes, when q reliable name is on
them, these tickets pass current as |
small change, and very large growers
have from five thousand dollars tc
twenty thousand dollars out in these
promises to pay. Some of the pickers
will reach three or four bushels in a
day, but two bushels is considered a
good days work, and the women often
pick more han the men.-Demoresti
Magazine.