The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-09-21
South Jersey VIII Yield But Half of
Crop of Last Year.

From the New York Sun.
The cranberry crop In New Jersey this
year will in all pro~,.bility be little more
than half as large as last year. During
the coming week the round full berries
which always suggest harvest time and
Thanksgiving will again appear In the
markets everywhere In this part of the
country.
The fuit will be of good quality for the
most part but the price will be high.
Last year was a hard one for turkeys.
Farmers had great trouble In keeping
them alive and In fattening them, while
the sauce for the turkey, the cranberry,
was abundant. This season. the sauce,
in measure, will be lacking. while the
fowls may be had in great quantity.
Expert cranberry growers in south Jer-
sey, after careful canvass of the indi-
vidual growers, have arrived at the con-
clusion that the crop Is to be light and
they find that several untoward elements
combined to keep the crop down. One was
the long and excessive cold winter and
the late spring which retarded the growth
of young vines and kept the old vines
from renewing their activity until a con-
siderable period beyond the normal time.
Then, the insects that prey upon the
cranberry plant have caused unprece-
dented damage this year throughout the
cranberry region of New Jersey, al
though every effort possible has been
made during the entire growing season
to destroy the pests.
At present the treat problem with the
growers is the best way for harvesting
the crop. Two methods are in use, the
old method being the use of the fingers
and the new method being the use OF
the picking scoop. a patented devce.
Hand picking Is done principally by
italians, who supplied by the padrone
system. Some of them become exceed
ingy expert. These expert picbers are
hard to obtain. and bunglers are very ex-
pensive, as they are too slow and spoil
a great proportion of the crop through
clumsy handling. Nevertheless, hand
picked berries are regarded as the best
as less damage is done to the fruit and
the plants than when the patent scoop 10
used.
Then, too, the hand pickers, finding
tho demand for tEeir services increasing
are growing more and more independent
and are demanding higher wages. SO
exaeting are the hand pickers in some To-
calities that the growers in those neigh
borhoods are seriously thinking of taking
to the scoops altogether Some even pre-
dict that in a fe7 years what are known
as hand picked cranberries will be almost
unknown, and that the quality of the crop
when marketed will not be so high as
In the past,
Nowadays greater care is taken In the
cleaning and packing of cranberries than
ever before. The seasons prices will vary
at wholesale rates from $3.50 to $3.50 bar
rel, with $6.75 to $3.50 for the selected fam
cy berries
If there should be scarcity of the ear
ly crop of the Cape Cod blacks which is
hardly expected there will be a greater
demand for the early New Jersey picking.
That was the case last year. and the
early prices were from Sc to $50 bar
rel when it had been expected that the
season would start from IS to s5.75
barrel This situation explains to some
extent why growers are so anxious to
get their fruit on the market as early as
possible.