The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-07-12
THE BIC BLUES
Rutler Gets Out into the Bushes, Fills
Up on Whacking Big H~uckIeberr1es
and Lives to Tel the Tale.

OWL IA L AHAN ~>AOO
fore | heard the talk turn to the
Big Blues In my section We nave
John Blue, and a lot Of his fellows,
that We loo on as rather big piues
but the Sampson county f@@ f!t5S
had not heard of until aligllted from
the train and struck the GOhera Val
ley.
First I was tempted to ask who
these big and famous people might be,
but ] learned years ago to wait and
listen.
Presently some one made a remark
about the prospects for a good crop
of the uig blues his season. and
another man informed me that Samp-
son county prospered when the big
blues were plenty, and then / had
enough of a line on things to ask a
saw-mil man to tell me something
about the big blues of Sampson.
When YOU have been walking over
the mill floor and talking about log
runs and steam niegers and shotgun
<eed and that sort Of things with a
mill-man he will tell you most any
thing and not express at your
ignorance, for if you know that a
steam niger is indispensable 0 n a
saw-mil these days, and that shotgun
feed is not something to eat, he
knows that you know something that
is q part of q SaW-mill education, and
business is it Of yours any way?'
consequence, nyWay.
So he enlightened me. The big blues
is the king of all the h~uckleberries,
bar none, and it has raised it's throne
III Sam pSOn county, North Carolina.
Good authority says that in the sum-
mer when the big blue is plentiful in
the huckleberrv belt the inhahitant of
Sampson county sWe1Is out in the chest
like q pouter pigeon or a big basket of
washing, and he has money in every
pocket, and a plug of tobacco as big
as a barrel staVe. For the big blue
IS as good as cash in the bank.
When the huckleberry season ar
rives in Sampson county other things
stop and the population WOOps down
on the huCkleberry sWanlps. Thousands
Of acres of the territory that borders
the creeks and rivers are covered
with the huckleberrV trees for the
big blue is no ~grovcler hat it should
hold its head In the dust. It grows on
trees from ten to twenty feet high,
and possibly higher, and it can stow
way freight like the cargo handler Of
an ocean liner can pack enormous
quantities in a small space.
The big blue packs berries and ber-
ries on every branch until it would
seem that it has a special design to
watch over the fortunes of the Samp-
son county berry pickcrs.
To the SwanpS the population goes.
and soon after the exodus has begun
the railroads begin to do ess.
for the fame of the Sampson county
big blue has gone out to the utter
most ends of the territory that can be
reached, and the express companies
pick up hu~ckleber7'ies for Boston. New
York, Washington, and any other
place that can appreciate a luxury.
Thousands and thousands Of pack
ages go ont on the trains, and money
comes down the line until Sampson
county wakes fat and naughty. The
legend is that if YOU ask q Sampson
county man who he is along in March
he Will tell you in a meek and doIo-
rous tone that he is a Sampson county
man, and that he will strike you for a
bite of eating tobacco.
But let the h~uckleberry crop put
coin IN his circulation. and his head
goes up like a Young buck when he
hears the first hound of autumn on
the ridge across the valley.
Then the Sampson county man is
reputed to nswcr, II am a Sampson
county man. sir, and what the thunder
business is il Of yours and Wav2'
But to tell the truth I found the
Sampson county fellows a right de-
cent lot. and IT was not huckleberry-
time vet when I was there either.
The h~uckleberry is a cosmopolitan
membe of the American plant world.
as it IS found almost every where.
pennsylvania mountains abound with
excellent huckleberries, but nothing
that really com pares with the big
blue of Sampson. We have half a
dozen or more varieties around in
QueWhiffle Township. and down on
the creek the big blue groes more or
less abundantly-just enough to let
us know what they are like, and the
hnckleberry cakes and huckleberry
pies that come to the table in this
season of the big blue do not come
with anV apology.
The big blue is named for it's looks.
1t is juicy, sweet, and excellent. Samp-
son county can afford to be naughty
over merely having the big blue
h~uckleberry, if not a berry ever went
70 Inarket, tor a country where the
people dine on their own huckleberry
pie, and their own milk and honey.
Is not one to take off it's hat to many
places.
And Sampson county is a favored