The Opelousas courier., 1900-04-28

idea OF the Cape as it 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 and the realization of his first
crop. Frost, food and drought, be-
side a hundred different insect blights,
are among his enemies, aud 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 ereeps over the ground,
sending forth countless shoots and
tendrils until it forms q thick, soft
carpet, six inches or more in depth,
elastic green. In the spring the bog
is aheld of reddish white flowers, and
IN the picking season the berries on q
weIl-kept bog are so thick as to OBJ
scure 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 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 on 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 s q '.picker." The picker
is an intricate arrangement of wires
and handles invented by some ex-
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
o year. These are the low, fiat tin
which are used to pick in. They
are, of two kinds, folr-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 'tpick
honest" but the small boys are the
bane of the boss'B life. AS soon rs his
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
best. A deep dent in the bot
tom of the pail is a result of q heavy
bump, aud the capacity Of the four
quart measure 10 reduced nearly q
pint. In a 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 a row, which is his in
alienable property for the day. II
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 a 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
in the scramble for supremacy
have found their way into the meas
ures. As each measure is filled the
carries it in to the screen and
receives q ticket. For q f~our-quaEt
measure the ticket is worth six cents
and for O six-quart measure ten cents.
During the cranberry season on Cape
Cod these tickets are a current me-
dunn of exchange and drive the ma
Iional currency out of circulation.
The small boy with the dent in the
of his pail has by no means
his ingenuity in his effort
10 save, labor. When he has filed
ais 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
east another quart. Strange as it
may seem, when the boy reaches the
screen the measure is trimming fall.
This transformation is accomplished
Dy the process known as shaking
ap. As the berries are picked into
The measure the weight OF ttioEeaboTe
congresses those below, and when the
small boy shakes 'em up' the nat
aral elasticity If the berries cause
hem to swell, and for d short time,
long enough, however, for the boy to
carry them to the screen, they retain
fnll dimensions. The average
capacity Of the women, girls
ind small boys ranges from 40 to TO
measures q day. The men
Who use pickers have been known to
tnrn in 200 six-quart measures, earn
ne $40 for their days work. The
best of them, however. do not
aqe better than eighty measures d day
or the season.