The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1902-07-25
Where Our BIue.berries Come From.

now many or our thrifty S0uthef
Minnesota housewives who are can
ming blueberries this year know hoy
the berries grow and where they com
from.
The blueberries in our market ar,
all the "low-bush' variety and grow
wild. the plant is low vine or bush
with woody stem three to six inches
high. They do not take kindly to
cultivation and are left to grow wild.
The large acres of cut over pine lands
in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin
seem to be the natural home of the
little berry. AS soon as the large trees
are cut and some sunlight finds it's
way to the earth the BURBERRY seems
to spring up spontaneously from
the sandy soil. 1t will not grow on
wet or marshy land but is very abund-
ant on the low ridges and sandy
slopes.
This year there is very abundant
crop in northern Minnesota and there
are thousands of Indians, half breeds,
Finlanders and others, women and
children, who are reaping rich har-
vest by picking and delivering berries
at the railroad stations.
With an old tent or perhaps a GOV
cred wagon for shelter, whole family
consisting of man and wife, numerous
children and two or three dogs, will
move from place to place, wherever
the berries are most abundant. Once
a day the old horse, if there is one, is
hitched to cart and the berries are
taken to the nearest station. In many
cases when the pickers do not have a
horse the camp is always made near a
lake or stream and canoe is used to
take the berries to railroad station.
There the agent or some one else will
buy the berries in bulk and put them
in fiat boxes, holding about fourteen
quarts, in which they are shipped to
all parts of the country. The pickers
receive from ST. to 81. 70 per bushel
for the berries in bulk
Although this is country of beau
tiful lakes and many streams these
rowing pickers do not seem to have
learned the use of soap and water. It
might be debatable question whether
a scientist with good microscope
could tell by the number of "strata"
on some of the dusky hands, how
many Cherry seasons the owner of
said hands had been through Right
here it may not be out of place to note
that we always relish our blueberries
best when we know how thoroughly
they were washed when being prepar-
ed for the table or for canning.
The Great Northern train on the :
Cass Lake branch. brought into Sank |
Center on July 10 more than six hun |
bred bushels of blueberries from the
small stations on that line. At the J
station of Sebeka more than two hun !
ared crates 200 bushels) were loaded.
For week this train has brought !
from two hundred to eight hundred
bushels day and the best of the
season is not yet reached.
As this lis only a small part of the
country of the state, it is
safe to estimate that for the next
thirty days there will be a thousand
bushels a day marketed in Minnesota.
And still the demand seems to keep
pace with the supply. Many are ship
bed to the Dakotas, Nebraska and
iowa. i
While the blueberry crop is con-
'idered of little Importance, its value
when figured in the aggregate repre-
ents great many thousand dollars
or the state of Minnesota alone.
j. W. T. !,