The picking of berries commences about the first of September. They
should be picked as soon as the greater part have put on a good, fair
color. The great mistake in the past has been in allowing the berries
to become over size. The trade has demanded _dark_ berries, which
made the Early Blacks so popular; but all that was gained in _color_
was at the sacrifice of the keeping quality, to the injury of the
grower and dealer.
This is becoming so well recognized that “pick early” comes with
the greater emphasis from all the larger dealers, who, by sad
experiences, have become more interested in this particular feature
than the grower, who, gathering his harvest of beautiful fruit, has
also immediately gathered in the skekels, recognizing that “the best
time to sell is right off the bog.” Thus has he “Sown to the Wind;”
and while disaster has been delayed, its coming is manifest in the
experience of the past season, when in some cases the crop has not
paid expenses.
An old receipt, “How to cook a hare,” began, “First catch the
hare.” We have endeavored to tell you how to get the crop; and now,
supposing you have this, we will give you an idea of how it is
gathered, so far as may be of interest to the uninitiated: Lines are
drawn across the bog, from eight to twenty feet apart, as a guide
for keeping in place those pickers who incline otherwise to the
right or left, as “spots” thick or thin allure or repel them in their
eagerness “to fill the measure.” Then, placing as many pickers within
the lines as can have sufficient “elbow room,” picking length-wise,
they proceed to pick.
An overseer is needed for every twenty-five pickers, to see that the
work is properly done, each in his or her own place, and that all are
picking clean from the vines, and from the “bottom;” that is, picking
from the ground all scattering berries.
Measures holding six quarts are the most convenient size, and the
usual price is ten cents per measure, each picker using generally
two measures and so saving time, as the berries must be carried to
the “Tally.” The pickers are all known by numbers, and as they go to
empty their measure they report “Number (5),” one or two measures,
as the case may be, the Tally repeating each number and tally, as a
precaution against mistakes.
On some bogs checks are given thus: “Good for ten cents, South Sea
Co., F. Crocker, Hyannis, Treas.;” and such checks are current coin
during “Cranberry time” for supplies at the stores.
Again, others provide themselves with a large amount of dimes, and so
“pay off” as each measure is delivered. Berries, after being picked,
should be put in slatted boxes holding about one bushel each, as
being the most convenient size to handle, and then put away for at
least twenty-four hours to cool off, as prevention against the almost
immediate process of decay if this is not done.