The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1917-11-21
fern INDUSTRY
IN THIS SECTION
Most of COuntry's Supply
Comes from Southern
Vermont
THREE MEN CONTROL
MOST OF OUTPUT
No Monopoly More Complete than Fern
Picking Industry-Rushed Into Cold
Storage as Soon as Possible and then
Shipped West.

Storage as Soon as Possible and then
Shipped West.
In the sparselv populated back towns
of Windham and Bennington counties
in Vermont, a unique and profitable
industry is carried ON during the
months of September and October.
Each year from a section scarcely 10
miles square is shipped most Of this
country supply of fancy and dagger
or Christmas ferns The towns of
Somerset, Searsbmg, Woodford and
Glastonbury have a combined popula-
ton Of about FIVE hundred, but during
the fcrn-picking season this number IS
greatly augmented by newcomers who
live in abandoned lumbermen : shan
ties aud tents While the season i on
nearly everyone III the towns men
toned works from sunrise till dark
picking the ferns that find their way
to nearly every city in the United
States Some idea Of the Importance
OF this industry may be gained from
the fact that from Bennington, VIII
miugton and few minor points are
shipped annually two hundred million
fancy ferns, which represent retail
value of over five hundred thousand
dollars.
No monopoly IL more complete than
the fern pie king industry. Three men
control 90 per cent Of the output.
They supply the picker with baskets
and crates, buy the ferns, store them
and sell them through the whole year.
The country where the fancy ferns
are picked is one of the most beauti-
full sections of New England. From
the highways in Woodford three
thousand feet above sea level, look
ing as far as the eye can reach, one
sees only forest-clad hills and valleys
typical spruce and hardwood of Yer
mont, and underneath this forest man
! tie are billions upon billions of fancy
| ferns which are never picked. Some
| idea Of the countless numbers growing
/ in this section may be had from this
fact that Earl and Harry Bishop
| picking twenty thousand daily. worl
/ practically the whole season within
one-haIf mile Of their home
The fancy fern is the one picket
! most, and must he IN good condition
and - inches long to I've accepted b,
the buyer, Dagger ferns must be iron
10 to l. inches long, They are pickef
and tied in lunches of -, for whiel
the picker receives one cent. Thi
seemed to me to be Incredibly small
pay, bat / found that the avcrag,
| pickle earns about four dollars pc
day. One picker met said that hi
best day 5 work had been $50 punches
Hi1 average, however, was 400
little rapid mental calculation Shove,
me that picking ESQ lunches mean
1000 ferns picked and tied - in
bunch, all between sunrise and sunset
1t j. interesting TO watch the cX
pefienccd picker tie the lunches.
bah of Irvine is carried in cloth sac
at the side and as the - ferns ar
gathered the picker catches the end o
the Irvine and rapidly winds il tire
or four times around the stems, the
bringing it up between them a coupl
of times and breaking it, No knot j
tied, and the whole operation take
only few seconds. Each picker cai
ries a basket, similar to a commo
clothes basket, hut a little deeper. an