The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1905-11-01
AUTUMN DAYS IN THE CRANBERRY BOG
Men Of Manv Nationates Harvesting Cape Cod Der
ries. Animated Scenes Where the thanksgiving
Turkey Accompaniment Is Boxed tor Shipment

PLYMOUTH, MASS, Oct. d" IL al
ovs amuses me when l am in Florida
or in Washington in the winter, SAID
veteran cranberry grower the othel
day. 'sto draw out people of other
sections on lhe subject of cranberrles'
I find that many very intelligent peo-
nile fancy they are raised on shrubs or
even on trees and picked pretty much
as cherries or blackberries are. Some
of the people / meet are cautious and
will not commit themselves, but others
are quite naive in their ignorance and
willingness to display it.
Summering on Cape Cod has OF late
become so universal that it might be
expected the sight of cranberry boys,
purple and pink and green with run
ming vines of the Vaccinium macro-
carpon, must have become familiar 10
a considerable portion of the popula-
ton of the United States. Those GER
tainly who linger on into autumn-tne
best time of the year in the Pilgrims
country, as it is in most places along
the Atlantic seaboard-are also accus-
toned to the spectacle of cosmopolitan
gangs of pickers, Portuguese, French
Canadians, Films, Poles, Swedes,
Italians. and occasionally a native
Yankee, in an ever advancing line eat
ing their way across the meadow, and
to the animated scenes at the screen
house where the reddening fruits are
sorted intol the different grades and
carefully boxed to make their journey
over the New Haven lines to every
Quarter of the United States where
Thanksgiving turkey demands an ac-
compartment of the cranberry sauce
Even if ignorance of the cranberry
habits is as widespread as the grower
has found, appre ;iation of the qualities
of the fruit itself grows more live and
active each year until the question
that is most frequently asked here
about is. ''Where is the supply of the
future to come from?" Already it is
doubtful this year if the eastern
Thanksgiving tables will not CLEAN
but sparsely with the glorious red
sauce. for hardly had the pickers be-
Gun work when the adroit western buy
ers were on the scene, riding out in
every direction from their headquar-
tiers in Wareham, examining the boys
critically and making their offers be-
fore the fruit men of Boston and New
York we're aware of what was going
on. Their progressiveness is in line
with requirements. Last year nearly
300. 900 barrels were more widely dis
tributed than ever before, hundreds of
carloads going everywhere. The ten
dencv is more and more toward the
of the berry.
So that it is no wonder Cape Cod
grows rich and prosperous and that
every available ere of bog is being
taken up, for no other region of the
United States is suited by climale for
production of the berries on a large
scale. Not every land owner can get
into this industry without outside help.
Large capital is needed to develop a
cranberry property, but once it has
begun to bear the returns are sure,
given the three essentials of peat, sand
and howage. The cranberry grower
is more independent of the vicissitudes
of nature than almost anybody else in
the world. A crop on properly con-
structed bog cannot be destroyed eth
err by frost or by worms if intelligent
care is used, for when the danger of