Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1899-12-20
CAPE COD'SFAM0US CROP
WHERE CRANBERRY PICKING HAS
BECOME A FINE ART.

HOW the Jolly Harvest Is Gathered by the
E Descendants OF tho Pilgrim Fathers
Jokes and wiIes OF the Pickers Young
and OId-A Time of Unsullied Joy.
There was time about two hun
dred years gone by when the little
crooked strip of sand stretching like
bent finger from the rocky coast of
Massachusetts, out into the Atlantic,
known as Cape Cod, filled larger
place in the thoughts of the American
! eople than the whole of New Eng
land fills today. The Pilgrims who
lived on the Cape were the American
people, and the thoushts|and inter-
ests of the Pilgrims were the thoughts
aud interests of the American people.
Asksthe American of today 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 MS 1t now is, is not
far wrong. Cape Cod is still supreme
in cranberry growing, says the New
York Sun. -
The culture of the cranberry is IN
the estimate of the Cape God bog
owner one of the fine arts. Many OF
the obstacles with which he must con-
tend between the setting of the young
plants aud the realization of his first
crop. Frost, food and drought, be-
side hundred different insect bllghts.
are among his enemies, and no land
seems so fertile for the thousand
species of weeds indigenous 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. It creeps over the ground,
sending forth countless shoots and
tendrils until it forms thick, soft
carpet, six inches or more in depth,
elastic green. In the spring the bog
is q field of reddish white flowers, and
in the picking season the berries on q
well-kept bog are so thick as to OBJ
scure the green of the leaves.
When the owner decides to start
picking he selects his oyerseers or
bosses. They make it known that
they are ready to engage pickers by
telling the village storekeeper, who is
the recognized news medium every
where on the Cape, The bosses visit
the bog where the picking is to begin
on the day before the season is 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 household is up with the sun
and breakfast of "hasty pudding" and
milk, or roast herring and cucumber
is quickly cleared away The women
and girls from the oldest to the
youngest put OH their sunbonnets,
and those who wish to preserve their
hands hunt mp cast-of gloves from
which they remove the fingers. The
men, careless of their appearance,
make no preparations except here and
there an expert, who is permitted by
the boss to use ''picker. The picker
is an intricate arrangement OF wires
and handles invented by some e1-
perienced cranberry owner to save
labor. Many of the bosses prohibit
the use of pickers on the ground that
they tear the vines. Then the women
of the house bring out the "meas-
ures" which have lain idle for nearly
a year. These are the low, fat tin
pals which are used to pick IN. They
are of two kinds, four-quart measures
and siz-quart measures, with the
quart lines indicated by ridges in the
sides of the pail. The full-grown men
use six-quart measures and "pick
honest" but the small boys are the
bane Of the boss's life. AS soon rs his
four.quart measure is given to him,
the small boy quietly slips out of the
kitchen, and holding the tin pail in
both hands brings it down with full
strength across his knee. To one un-
familiar with the wiles of Cape Cod
youth this operation appears entirely
without cause. But the small boy
knows best. A deep dent in the bot
tom of the pail is result of q heavy
bump, aud the capacity of the four
quart measure is reduced nearly o
pint. In days picking-perhaps
twenty or thirty measures-this dent
means fifteen quarts of berries which
the boy has not picked.
Arrived at the bog, each picker is
assigned to row, which is his in
alienable property for the day. If
the picking turns out to be good he is
in luck and may win his bet over o
superior picker who has been assigned
to poorer row. By the side of the
bog the boss has placed the sitter, q
wire screen whose meshes are large
enough to permit the passage of the
berries but retain the sticks and vines
which in the scramble for supremacy
have found their way into the meas
ures. AS each measure is filled the
picker carries it in to the screen and
receives ticket. For a four-quart
measure the ticket is worth six cents
and for six-quart measure ten cents.
During the cranberry season on Cape
| Cod these tickets are current me-
dium Of exchange and drive the na-
f2tional currency out of circulation. :,
The small boy with the dent in the
bottom of his pail has by no means
exhausted his ingenuity in his effort
to save labor. When he has filled
his measure mp to the three-quart
mark the spectator is surprised to see
him start for the screen, although it
is evident that the pail will hold at
least another quart. Strange ms it
may seem, when the boy reaches the
screen the measure is brimming full.
This transformation is accomplished
by the process known as shaking
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