Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-01-21

the third grade, smaller and not so
firm. follow the wheel around.
On the boys where this machine is
not used berries are sorted into three
grades by women sorters. They sit
at the mouth of a long trench down
which comes a veritable avalanche of
berries, millions on millions of them,
and with hands moving swiftly here
and there guide them out three exist.
The difference in the marketing price
of the three grades of cranberries is
not great.
For the last three years cranberries
have brought to the grower an aver
age price of Sc per barrel OF this
amount just half is estimated at clear
profit.
Male pickers of Cape Cod prefer to
pick by the hour. for which the aver
age pay is 40 cents But some of the
most successful pickers, and these in
clude many Portuguese, pick by the
barrel Some of these stars of the
cranberry bog make from IS to S12
day during a season of ten weeks.
Possession of a three-acre cranberry
! bog provides a good competence. II
requires about three years to establish
bog. The favorite location is a ce-
dar swamp near which is a fresh wat
er pond by which the bog can be
flooded. Ground from which cedar
stumps have been removed furnishes
the best soil for the toothsome relish.
| Boys must be flooded to the top of
the berry plants when frost threatens.
I AS the day warns the water is drawn
/ of and the bog sends up clouds of
steam as from a pot of boiling water.
/ Recently boys have been established
away from natural water supply and
gasoline motor pumps have been in
stalled to fill reservoirs with supply
| sufficient to flood the swamp.
! Park-in-the-WOods bog has an inter-
esting history. An English florist who
/ established himself in Boston was adj
vised by physicians to live outdoors
He decided to cultivate a cranberry
bog. Then he set out trees and rose
bushes around the swamp. The pond
used for flooding purposes was care
fully parked The bog dixie is kept as
neatly trimmed as the best lawn At
the entrance to the bog are two will
low trees the slips of which were
brought from Napoleon's grave on ST.
Helena.
/ The cranberry picking season is
most important in the lives of Cape
Cod natives. Work of almost every
other sort is put aside. Cod banks
and quahaug and clam beds are even
deserted. Young and old gather or
the swamps. Once the crop is ripe it
must he harvested quickly. The sea.
son begins in the middle of Septem-
Der and ends about the middle of No
vember. In the early morning hours
ever every road on the cape, parties
Of pickers are seen journeying to the
boys. Many go on foot, sometimes
walking ten miles TO a good bog. They
20 on horseback, IN the family carry
ALL 20 in a lumber wagon, by automo-
bile and by OK team. Father and moth
er and half a dozen children will spend
day after day on the cranberry bog.
High school girls and boys make Sat
ulday a jubilant holiday and earn
dollar or two pin money.
After | had worked on my knees
for an hour / foynd myself munching
berries constantly. l turned to the
picker who had caught up with me
twice going across a rod-wide strip.
Say. pal. the reason I've only man
aged 10 scrape up about ten quarts is
because | guess I've eaten about that
many" | said. "NNiH it make ME sick?"
lie popped fat red berry from his
mouth and exclaimed: I've been
picking for ten years. | munich cram
berries all the time and I've never
been sick in my life. Chicago Tri-
bUne.