Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1895-08-31
HucKLEBERRIEs.
How the Michigan Crop is Gathered For
ha TarIrof

How the Michigan Crop is Gathered For
the Market
When, in 1890, r. S. Porter, superin-
5endent of census, prepared the sched-
ules for the use of his fifty thousand
enumerators. he must have been un-
mindful of the fact that the swamps
and plains of Michigan furnished an
abundance of that delicious fruit
known as the huckleberry; for he pro-
vided nospace for them, except in that
ndefnitely-named column, ''other
berries" Although the plains of
northern Michigan produced immense
quantities of lowgrowing variety,
yet this article will describe more
particularly the thigh bush," So
called, of the central part of
the state. Here the oak openings
are interspersed with spruce and
tamarack groves, whose boughs
bush," mingled with black alders and,
too often, the crimson stems of the poi
son sumach. These swamps are small,
an acre or less, seldom exceeding ten,
vet in some townships averaging one
TO a square mile The floor of the
swamp is covered with an elastic mat
of delicate moss. from which rise the
bushes in thick clumps, six to ten feet
in height, may be less than a dozen
feet through, yet so dense that picker
on the other side from you is fully con-
cealed. Round these, and branching in
many ways, are paths sunlzen somewhat
by the yearly tread of busy pickers,
often wet, but none will admit that
the dampness is injurious. Some
favored spots there are, where the
moss and bushes hold undisputed
sway, and one may move with as much
ease and comfort as in a well-l1ept fruit
garden; no snakes, nothing but yellow
jackets and few hornets.
Many of these places have been
drained in the past, being considered
Of little value as they were, but at pres
ent, with a near market, they are
valuable in a state of nature, yielding
in rents alone more than the same
acreage of upland. This means that
every picker is expected to pay twenty
cents a day, or one-third of the berries.
This practice is in defiance of the es.
tablished notion that still prevails to
some extent, that wild fruit should be
free to ali But better ideas are gain
ing ground here as in other matters.
The season proper begins in the
spring. With the returning life and
warmth of nature begin the inquiries,
the speculations, the plans. When, in
May, the blossoms appear, transform
ing the dreary swamp into snowy
bower, the interest takes on shape and
resolves itself into an anxiety regard
whose touch would be fatal at this sea-
son. This crisis safely passed, anoth-
er question agitates the mind of the
expectant picker-''Will there be
drought?" Let US suppose all things
are propitlous, no frost, much rain,
and the fruit will begin to turn by the
Fourth, and from the middle of July
until the same time in September there
is good picking every day. This is ow-
ing to the fact that there are several
varieties growing together, differing
in size, tint and shape. Black, dark
and pale blue. early and late, ripening
gradually, prolong the berry harvest
into the autumn.
The pickers are mostly women and
children, not wage-earners as class;
but, with the children, nearly every
woman in the vicinity whose health
and duty will permit, goes to the
swamp to gather the delicious fruit for
use in the family, to fill few-score
cans, and lastly to get enough money
out of it to procure some article that
she would not otherwise think OF
obtaining. Of course, the gains are
various. Under good conditions some
will pick two bushels in long day.
The prices ranges from five to twelve
cents per quart, and they are pur
chased mostly by the merchants in vii
lagos along the railway line. Detroit
Free Press.
TILE DETnpT nECEpNEn