After being thoroughly cooled they are put in screens about ten feet
long, three feet wide at the upper end, and six to eight inches
at the lower end, from which, under the careful eye of an expert
“screener,” they are “run” into a barrel set ready to receive them.
Four or five screeners about each screen remove all trash and unsound
berries, and sometimes the light-colored ones, which are held to
“color up,” or packed separately and marked “Light.” As the barrels
are being filled, they should be thoroughly shaken, at least three
times; then, when the uninitiated packer thinks he has got the barrel
full enough, it needs from four to six quarts more, when, with a
screw, press the berries firmly down into the barrel. The barrels now
properly headed and nailed, carry the berries in shape to command the
highest price for which their grade may warrant. It _pays_ to pack
the fruit as _solid_ as possible, since, whether sound or otherwise,
a full barrel will _sell_ when one lacking one inch or more of
berries will command little attention.
* * * * *
WEST HARWICH, MASS., Oct. 19, 1891.
In the spring of 1890 I bought an acre of cranberry bog that had
been set about 30 years, and was so run down as to bear only about
10 barrels per year. I immediately applied 400 pounds of Bradley’s
Fertilizer, and received the first year a crop of 22 barrels.
Last spring I applied 600 pounds of same Fertilizer, and have
just gathered 40 barrels of nice berries, making an increase of
30 barrels a year on one acre by the use of Bradley’s Fertilizer,
equal to 300 per cent. gain.
Besides all this improvement in the crop, the Fertilizer has had
the effect to renew the vines to such an extent as to give them
the appearance of a new bog, while the moss, which was quite
troublesome, has been wholly killed out. It is surprising to see
how quick moss will begin to disappear where Bradley’s Fertilizer
has been applied.