The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-10-08
CAPE GODS JOLLY HARVEST
WHERE CRANBERRY PICKING HAS
BECOME 4 FINE ART

| Jokes and wiles of the Piclters Young and
Old-A Time of Unsullicd Joy for both.
| There was time about two hundred years
| gone by when the little crooked strip Of sand
stretching like bent finger from the rucky coast
| Of Massachusetts out into the Atlantic, known
as Cape Cod filled larger place in the thoughts
Of the American people than the whole Of New
| England fills today The Pilgrims who lived
! on the Cape the American people and the
thoughts and interests Of the Pilgrims were the
| thoughts and interests Of the American people.
| Ask the American Of to-day what he knows of
| Cape Cod and the chances are strong that the
| answer will be Cape Cod is the place where cram
| berries come from" and the popular idea of the
| Cape as it now is, Is not far wrong. Cape Cod
| is still supreme in cranberry growing. It's poit-
| ical Importance departed many years ago; its
maritime Importance is no more: its farms are
waste and barren but il still produces the largest
| crop and the best cranberries in the world
| Throughout the land the heart Of the small
| boy Is daily growing sadder with the thought
that school is about open for the long and dread
| ed winter term. but on Cape Cod where the cram
berries grow the small boy halls the season as
| one Of long and unalloyed enjoyment for as the
cool September air grows crisper with approach
| ing FROST the Cape Cod hoy on his way home
| from the districtschool, which has prolonged
| its session through the hot months Of summer.
sees the boys grow daily rcddet with the ripening
| fruit and hears at home the season picking
| campaign planned carefully by his parents Not
the smallest chick child is left out of the plan
| FROM the oldest to the youngest. all must pick.
| and up and down the length Of the Cape the an.
| nuuncement has come that School will close
| on Friday for the cranberry holidays" For two
| long months the boys and girls will gather on
| the bog ana the daily contest for the champion
| snip Will be wagcd. The school mistress. fresh
| from Normal College, will unbend her dignity
| and side by side with the truant schoolboy will
| laugh and chatter with the rest All will be
| forgotten in general merry making.
The culture Of the cranberry is in the estimate
| OF the Cape Cod bog owners one of the fine arts
| Many are the obstacles with which he must con
| tend between the setting out OF the young plants
and the realization OF his first crop. Frost. flood
| and drought beside hundred different insect
! bliEhts are among his enemies and no land seems
so fertile for the thousand species of weeds ndgen-
Gus to the Cape as the black loan OF the low swamp
| land where the cranberry bog is built The
vine itself when once in vigorous growth is tough
| and hardy. 1t creepS over the ground. sending
forth countless shoots and tendnls until II forms
thick soft carpet. six inches or more in depth,
| OF elastic green. In the spring the bog il q field
OF reddish white flowers and in the picking season
the berries on well kept bog are so thick as TO
obscure the green of the leaves
When the owner decides TO start picking he
| selects his overseers or bosses. They make it
| known that they are ready to engage pickers by
telling the village storckeeper who is the rccog-
| niZcd news medium everywhere on the Cape The
bosses visit the bog where the picking is to begin
on the day before the season is to open. and stake
| out" rows for the pickers. These rows are from
| four to ten feet wide, their width depending on
| the supply of berries They are separated by
| long stretches Of white cord,
On the morning of the first day every house
hold is up with the sun and the breakas OF "hasty
| pudding" and milk or roast herring and cucum-
| bers IL quickly cleared away. The women and
girls from the oldest TO the youngest put on their
sun bonnets, and those who wish to pre-
serve their hands hunt up castof gloves from
which they remove the fingers. The men. caro-
| less OF appearances, make no preparations ex.
| ccpt here and there an expert who Is permitted
| by the boss TO use picker. The picker Ia
| an intricate arrangement OF wires ana handles
invented by some experienced cranberry owner
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