Among the many thousands of well informed persons with whom the
cranberry is a staple article of food throughout the autumn and
winter, and who especially derive from its pungent flavor sharp relish
for their Thanksgiving and Christmas turkey, not one in ten has any
definite idea as to where the delicious fruit comes from, or of the
method of growing and harvesting it. Most people are, however, aware
that it is raised on little "truck patches" somewhere down in New
Jersey or about Cape Cod, and some have heard that it is gleaned from
the swamps in the Far West by Indians and shipped to market by white
traders. But to the great majority its real history is unknown.
Yet the cranberry culture is an industry in which millions of dollars
are invested in this country, and it gives employment, for at least a
portion of each year, to many thousands of people. In the East, where
the value of an acre of even swamp land may run up into the thousands
of dollars, a cranberry marsh of five or ten acres is considered a
large one, and, cultivated in the careful, frugal style in vogue
there, may yield its owner a handsome yearly income. But in the great,
boundless West, where land, and more especially swamp land, may be had
for from $1 to $5 an acre, we do these things differently, if not
better.
The State of Wisconsin produces nearly one-half of the cranberries
annually grown in the United States. There are marshes there covering
thousands of acres, whereon this fruit grows wild, having done so even
as far back as the oldest tradition of the native red man extends. In
many cases the land on which the berries grow has been bought from the
government by individuals or firms, in vast tracts, and the growth of
the fruit promoted and encouraged by a system of dikes and dams
whereby the effects of droughts, frost, and heavy rainfalls are
counteracted to almost any extent desired. Some of these holdings
aggregate many thousands of acres under a single ownership; and after
a marsh of this vast extent has been thoroughly ditched and good
buildings, water works, etc., are erected on it, its value may reach
many thousands of dollars, while the original cost of the land may
have been merely nominal.
Large portions of Jackson, Wood, Monroe, Marinette, Juneau, and Green
counties are natural cranberry marshes. The Wisconsin Valley division
of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway runs through a closely
continuous marsh, forty miles long and nearly as wide, as level as a
floor, which is an almost unbroken series of cranberry farms. The
Indians, who inhabited this country before the white man came, used to
congregate here every fall, many of them traveling several hundred
miles, to lay in their winter supply of berries. Many thousands of
barrels are now annually shipped from this region; and thus this vast
area, which to the stranger looking upon it would appear utterly
worthless, is as valuable as the richest farming lands in the State.
In a few instances, however, this fruit is cultivated in Wisconsin in
a style similar to that practiced in the East; that is, by paring the
natural sod from the bog, covering the earth to a depth of two or
three inches with sand, and then transplanting the vines into soil
thus prepared. The weeds are then kept down for a year or two, when
the vines take full possession of the soil, and further attention is
unnecessary. The natural "stand" of the vines in the sod is so
productive, however, and the extent of country over which bountiful
nature has distributed them so vast, that few operators have thought
it necessary to incur the expense of special culture.
One of the best and most perfectly equipped marshes in Wisconsin is
owned by Mr. G.B. Sackett, of Berlin. It is situated four miles north
of that village, and comprises 1,600 acres, nearly all of which is a
veritable bog, and is covered with a natural and luxuriant growth of
cranberry vines. A canal has been cut from the Fox River to the
southern limit of the marsh, a distance of 4,400 ft. It is 45 ft.
wide, and the water stands in it to a depth of nine feet, sufficient
to float fair sized steamboats. At the intersection of the canal with
the marsh steam water works have been erected, with flood gates and
dams by means of which the entire marsh may be flooded to a depth of a
foot or more when desired. There are two engines of 150 horse power
each, and two pumps that are capable of raising 80,000 gallons per
minute.
When, in early autumn, the meteorological conditions indicate the
approach of frost, the pumps may he put to work in the afternoon and
the berries be effectually covered by water and thus protected before
nightfall. At sunrise the gates are opened and the water allowed to
run off again, so that the pickers may proceed with their work. The
marsh is flooded to a depth of about two feet at the beginning of each
winter and allowed to remain so until spring, the heavy body of ice
that forms preventing the upheaval that would result from freezing and
thawing--a natural process which, if permitted, works injury to the
vines.
There is a three-story warehouse on the marsh, with a capacity of
20,000 barrels of berries, and four large two-story houses capable of
furnishing shelter for 1,500 pickers. The superintendent's residence
is a comfortable cottage house, surrounded by giant oaks and elms, and
stands near the warehouse on an "island," or small tract of high, dry
land near the center of the great marsh. The pickers' quarters stand
on another island about 200 yards away.
A plank roadway, built on piles, about two feet above the level of the
ground, leads from the mainland to the warehouse and other buildings,
a distance of more than half a mile. Several wooden railways diverge
from the warehouse to all parts of the marsh, and on them flat cars,
propelled by hand, are sent out at intervals during the picking season
to bring in the berries from the hands of the pickers. Each picker is
provided with a crate, holding just a bushel, which is kept close at
hand. The berries are first picked into tin pans and pails, and from
these emptied into the crates, in which they are carried to the
warehouse, where an empty crate is given the picker in exchange for a
full one. Thus equipped and improved, the Sackett marsh is valued at
$150,000. Thirteen thousand barrels have been harvested from this
great farm in a single season. The selling price in the Chicago market
varies, in different seasons, from $8 to $16 per barrel. There are
several other marshes of various sizes in the vicinity.
The picking season usually begins about Sept. 1, and from that time
until Oct. 1 the marshes swarm with men, women, and children, ranging
in age from six to eight years, made up from almost every nationality
under the sun. Bohemians and Poles furnish the majority of the working
force, while Germans, Irish, Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, negroes,
Indians, and Americans contribute to the motley contingent. They come
from every direction and from various distances, some of them
traveling a hundred miles or more to secure a few days' or weeks'
work. Almost every farmer or woodsman living anywhere in the region of
the marshes turns out with his entire family; and the families of all
the laboring men and mechanics of the surrounding towns and cities
join in the general hegira to the bogs, and help to harvest the fruit.
Those living within a few miles go out in the morning and return home
at night, taking their noon-day meal with them, while those from a
distance take provisions and bedding with them and camp in the
buildings provided for that purpose by the marsh owners, doing their
own cooking on the stoves and with the fuel furnished them.
The wages vary from fifty cents to a dollar a bushel, owing to the
abundance or scarcity of the fruit. A good picker will gather from
three to four bushels a day where the yield is light, and five to six
bushels where it is good. The most money is made by families numbering
from half a dozen to a dozen members. Every chick and child in such
families over six years old is required to turn out and help swell the
revenue of the little household, and the frugal father often pockets
ten to twenty dollars a day as the fruits of the combined labors. The
pickers wade into the grass, weeds, and vines, however wet with dew or
rain, or however deeply flooded underneath, making not the slightest
effort to keep even their feet dry, and after an hour's work in the
morning are almost as wet as if they had swum a river. Many of them
wade in barefooted, others wearing low cowhide shoes, and their feet,
at least, are necessarily wet all day long. In many cases their bodies
are thinly clad, and they must inevitably suffer in frosty mornings
and evenings and on the raw, cold, rainy days that are frequent in the
autumn months in this latitude; yet they go about their work singing,
shouting, and jabbering as merrily as a party of comfortably clad
school children at play. How any of them avoid colds, rheumatism, and
a dozen other diseases is a mystery; and yet it is rarely that one of
them is ill from the effects of this exposure. As many as 3000 or 4000
pickers are sometimes employed on a single marsh when there is a heavy
crop, and an army of such ragamuffins as get together for this
purpose, scattered over a bog in confusion and disorder, presents a
strange and picturesque appearance.
Indians are not usually as good pickers as white people, but in the
sparsely settled districts, where many of the berry farms are
situated, it is impossible to get white help enough to take care of
the crop in the short time available for the work, and owners are
compelled to employ the aborigines. A rake, with the prongs shaped
like the letter V, is used for picking in some cases, but owing to the
large amount of grass and weeds that grow among the vines on these
wild marshes, this instrument is rarely available. After being picked
the berries are stored in warehouses for a period varying from one to
three weeks. They are washed and dried by being passed through a
fanning mill made for the purpose, and are then allowed to cure and
ripen thoroughly before they are shipped to market.
From statistics gathered by the American Cranberry Growers'
Association it is learned that in 1883 Wisconsin produced 135,507
bushels, in 1884 24,738 bushels, in 1885 264,432 bushels, and in 1886
70,686 bushels of this fruit. By these figures it will be seen that
the yield is very irregular. This is owing, principally, to the fact
that many of the marshes are not yet provided with the means of
flooding, and of course suffer from worms, droughts, late spring or
early autumn frosts, and extensive fires started by sparks from the
engines on railroads running through the marshes. These and various
other evils are averted on the more improved farms. So that, while
handsome fortunes have in many cases been made in cranberry growing,
many thousands of dollars have, on the other hand, been sunk in the
same industry. Only the wealthier owners, who have expended vast sums
of money in improving and equipping their property, can calculate with
any degree of certainty on a paying crop of fruit every year.
Chicago is the great distributing point for the berries produced in
Wisconsin, shipments being made thence to nearly every State and
Territory in the Union, to Canada, to Mexico, and to several European
countries. Berries sent to the Southern markets are put up in
watertight packages, and the casks are then filled with water, this
being the only means by which they can be kept in hot weather. Even in
this condition they can only be kept a few days after reaching hot
climates.--_American Magazine._
* * * * *