The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-10-27
CRANBERRY cRop.
One Million Bushels AinuaIly-44aif Is
Required for Thanksgiving.


Required for Thanksgiving.
The great annual crop of cranberry
sauce for the Thanksgiving turkey is
now being harvested, saws the Brook
Ign Eagle. That is to say. they are
taking the raw material from the boys
the hard REDEEMED berries that after
going through the magic erueibles of
ten thousands of housewives. viii an
pear beside the Drowned and blistered
turkey on Thanksgiving day, an essen
tiaI Of the feast hardly less important
than The gobbler itself
The most important of the fall holi-
days IS still more than a month off but
most Of the cranberry crop Is now
safely housed. It takes q quantity to
satisfy Uncle Sans palate, and a little
less than one-half of the years crop is
consumed in November alone. This
shows how re1glously the traditions of
Thanksgiving day are observed.
The total yield of cranberries in the
United States is about 1,000,000 bush
els, and Of these 100000 bushels are
needed for Thanksgiving
The genesis of the cranberry is not
as well known as that Of other fea-
lures of the Thanksgiving dinner.
Everybody knows all about the turkey.
Nor is there any mystery about the
celery. the mincemeat that goes into
the pies or any of the side vegetables
that add so much eclat
But the cranberry comes a distance
to the vast majority of the consumers.
1t is seldom raised on the farm. Gran
berry culture is not usually carried on
in a small way by a farmer in connec-
ton with other produce cultivation. 1t
is a separate business that requires
plenty Of land, and what is even more
important, water.
Originally the cranberry grew wild
and took its name from a resemblance
CT If,,~
ton bears to the neck. head and bill
of crane. From CRANBERRY to
cranberry was an easy transition.
1t was at Cape Cod that the cram
berry was first cultivated in the United
States. and soon came the discovery
that In flavor the cultivated cranberry
was far superior to its wild brother.
From this point the cranberry has
spread all over the United States. but
it is d selfish berry, and demands for
its own exclusive use all the land de-
voted to its culture. Thus It is not Dos
sible to get a crop of .cranberrfes one
year and crop Of something else the
next out of the same piece of land.
sand and peaty ground form the
ideal soil for the cranberry and instead
of fertilizing, the grower is obliged to
give the vines or bushes liberal coat
ings of sand.
The place where the cranberry
grows is variously known as the marsh
or the bog, from the fact that it must
be low land arranged with a system of
sluices similar to those used for the IT.
rigation of arid land in the west.
It taxes money and patience to. pre-
pare bog, and the man who puts his
capital IN the venture deserves a fair
return for his product. 1t costs not less
than $500, and as high as $500 an acre.
to get the bog ready. Then five years
must elapse before there is any crop
suficlent to give a return. But after
this it is all profit, for the shrubs live
and bear endlessly, getting better all
the time.
Nothing could be simpler than plant
ing cranberry bushes. A small handful
of twigs is twisted together, and thrust
deeply into the sand. They need no
tending, but take root at once, and
within a year send out runners. The
planting is done In rows eight or ten
inches apart. Gradually the space be-
tween the rows fills up. and soon the
whole bog is one field OF growing cram
berries.
Flooding the bog answers the dual
purpose. of giving the cranberry the
moisture which is an essential part of
Its life, and protecting it from frosts OF
early autumn.
There are two ways OF picking the
berries. One is the old fashioned, the
other the new.
In the primitive method all that is
needed is a picker with nimble fingers.
He or she sits or kneels in the moist
sand, plunges both hands. with fingers
slightly spread. till the hands become
a >srot of rake, into the green vines,
and with quick movement strips the
berries from the vine, and losses them
into a pan. When the pan is filled 1t
is emptied into a larger measure con-
tanning a third of a bushel. The size
is uniform, and the picker is paid by
the pail.
This old time method of picking is
gradually being abandoned in the
larger Dogs in favor of the new
"rocker scoops"
The scoop looks Ike a rake, with
box attached, and is made of hickory.
It has long teeth, and the operator
pushes it along through the vines,
having it carefully adjusted so that 1t
does not tear the vines or miss any of
the berries. AS the scoop picks the
berries from the stems 1t empties them
into a box. and the method is so quick
that one man can pick twenty-five
times as many berries in day as was
possible under the old hand system.
Machinery also helps when the time
comes to take the berries indoors, re-
move the leafy waste, and grade them
according to size and quality
There are in each bog several conven-
lent buildings, so placed as to reduce to
a minimum the need Of carrying ehe
crop from place to place.
The genius that does the work is a
mill or. Grader a two story machine run