Evening star., 1901-05-25
STRAWBERRIES AND PEAS
ENORMOUS CROPS GATHERED IN
ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, MD.
Army of Pickers Employed Annually
The Yield Worth Thousands
of Dollars.
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star

Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
SEVERN, Md, May 24, 1891.
This week the teams of the strawberry
and pea growers of Anne Arundel county.
Md, are busIy engaged. In the cities the
demand for the berry and pea has so in
creased that harvesting the crop requires
hundreds of hands, and prolific as the aver
age piney woods families are, no house
hold force Is able to gather the crop with
out outside help. True there are some fam
lilies, who, with the aid of a few friends or
the colored people of the neighborhood, are
able to keep down the crOp-securing it be
fore it is dead ripe-but as many truck
farmers now have acres of berries, no less
than score of pickers are required by
each, and on some farms over a hundred
are quartered at the barracks or picker
shanty. Both the berry and the pea bid
fair to yield more than an average crop,
and the Indications are that fair prices will
prevail. And as some of the early varieties
of the berry will be ready to pick before
the close of the week and the full clusters
first green are turning white, only needing
a little to give the crimson tint the
picking force is rapidly the move for
the shanties, and the grower is busily en-
SdStH III pitpdi IlS IOI the season. IN
two weeks time the population of the
county will be increased by from twelve to
fifteen thousand, and the result of the
labor Will be on the Wagon-tilled roads
and the heavy traffic on Market space, Bal
timore
Wherever the 'pohck,' or Polish, picker
is engaged-and these terms are applied to
all the foreign pickers-the truck farmer
or grower relegates the picking, packing
and loading "A boss This is l.
ly man who has had a number of years
of experience at the business, but last year
the new woman appeared as a boss picker.
Early in the season the row boss is en-
gagged at much per week, u small bonus
being allowed for each picker engaged, and
pay for his individual picking; he and his
force have to be hauled out and returned.
In some instances the grower is asked TO
furnish a few kegs of beer during the sea-
son, and to take some of the force to Bal
timore and back two or three times during
the season. In recent years the require
ment for beer has not been insisted on.
AS the season approaches the boss VIII
visit the patches once or twice and deter
mine on the number of hands he must en-
gage and when they should be brought
out. This decided, and the grower having
convenient to the shanty rick of straw
for the force with supply of wood, the
wagons are sent into Baltimore for the new
Some idea s,,.. as to the magnitude
given by two-horse. tiaring side market
wagon. usually having as its load but six
or eight pickerS and their luggage. There
fore, it is necessary for the truckers to nelp
each other. Each one brings out all his
force at one time. So numerous are the
movers that the roads leading from Balti-
more have been filled with picker teams
each wagon filled with bedding, household
goods and humanity tmen, women and
children)-sugSestiVe somewhat of the old
time emigrant train, though the wagons
Wncovered) bear little resemblance to the
prairie schooner.
Arranging for housekeeping.
Once at the shanty, setting up house
keeping is in order, the men folk unload
Ing the household goods, provisions, etc,
building the Dutch ovens, tables and seats,
and the women look to the placing of their
bedding in the divisions for families form
ed by boards on edge, the cavities thus
formed being filled with straw. Even This
preparation is deferred till after night. if
there is good picking, so anxious are the
laborers to get to work. They will cheer
fully take pot luck with the inconyen-
fences of the first day and night.
The habtations for usually six weeks are
in the most unpretentious shanties some
few two-storied frames, but mostly of one
often a fourteen by tWenty-building houS-
ing fifteen or more.
Rain or shine, whatever be the tempera-
ture when the row boss determines it is
time to pick" all who have come to work
must be ready at his call, and almost daily
during the season when the inexperienced
can scarcely discern a berry, the practical
eye guides the nimble fingers of the
''pohich' to the rpened fruit. And before
the sun has risen a field of men, women
and children may be seen, each person in
his or her row, filling the quart boxes
These boxes are left until they run out the
row, when, on trays, they are taken to the
tally keeper, who gives out the checks
metal tokens-representing the quarts
gathered by each. AS received by the tally
keeper, the berries are looked over and
placed In the sixty-quart crates and load
ed, after being sent off with such dispatch
to the commission merchant in Baltimore
that he is enabled to ship them early in
the afternoon. Sometimes the boxes are
laden at the stations on the railroad car
consigned to distant points.
1t is not until the load is gathered that
there is a thought of breakfast-the pick
ing has overshadowed all other consdera-
tions. Mothers leave their nursing babes
to the care of children too young to pick
and thus early in the day each worker has
earned perhaps dollar or two represented
by the metal check.
When the last crate Is loaded a break is
made for the shanty and gypsy-like scene
is presented In the preparations for their
frs. daily meal, after which they are free
until called by the boss, usually in the
afternoon, to pick peas.
The customary pay Is 1h cents per
quart for Strawberries, 20 cents per busheI
for little peas and 10 cents for marrow fat
and sugar peas, and at these rates few
earn less than & per day. and some double
that. The season round the pickers will
average $1.50 per day.
The row boss" receiving the bonus for
hands, with weekly salary, and picking
his row while experimenting, usually
makes a good thing of it, and when prices
are good the growers do not begrudge the
perquisites to the boss. In many instances
in the past the picking has been SO salts
factorily done that the same bosses, with
the same families Of pickers. have been
employed for several years in succession,
ana It is not rare to find at the shapties