Part 5

So extensive is the use of tobacco, that one grower, Mr. Franklin Crocker, of Hyannis, treasurer of the South Sea Cranberry Company, who has probably given as much attention as any other grower to this branch of the business, informs us that for himself and others he purchased, in its various forms, over five thousand dollars’ worth of tobacco during the past two years, for this purpose. Mr. Crocker tells of his experience with tobacco in his letter on page 3 of cover.

Many growers (not all) are able to resort to “Spring Flowage” as an effective and cheap remedy for fire-worms. That this is effective there can be no question, but in its application for destroying the worm it is injurious to the keeping quality of the fruit when gathered.

THE HARVEST.

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.

BARRELLING.

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.

W. P. BAKER.

THE 1891 CROP IN THE NEW ENGLAND STATES.

The following comparative statement of the 1891 crop of Cranberries on Dec. 1, 1891, in the New England States, was compiled by Charles H. Nye, Esq., Superintendent Cape Cod Division, Old Colony Railroad, and allowing that 9,000 bushels may have been grown in Rhode Island and Connecticut, would make the 1891 crop about or quite 480,000 bushels.

============================+===============+======================== | 1890. | 1891. | STATIONS SHIPPED FROM. +--------+------+--------+------+ TO BE |BARRELS.|BOXES.|BARRELS.|BOXES.|SHIPPED. ----------------------------+--------+------+--------+------+-------- Rock | 1,879 | 993| 3,420 | 296| South Middleboro | 74 | 14| 248 | 14| Tremont | 16,840 | 2,640| 23,986 | 2,486| 200 Marion | 440 | 310| 441 | 361| Mattapoisett | 175 | 63| 215 | 688| South Wareham | 416 | 90| 516 | 269| Wareham | 14,919 | 4,870| 18,125 | 4,743| East Wareham | 2,223 | 203| | | Onset Junction | | | 3,412 | 156| 300 Buzzard’s Bay | 33 | 127| 223 | 130| Monument Beach | 229 | 147| 550 | 18| Wenaumet | 37 | 31| 103 | 97| Cataumet | 1690 | 498| 323 | 381| North Falmouth | 655 | 711| 753 | 1,459| West Falmouth | 164 | 11| 90 | 15| Falmouth | 1,997 | 872| 4,085 | 3,281| 400 Woods Holl | 182 | | | | Bourne | 859 | 83| 1,606 | 415| Bournedale | 1,512 | 738| 1,160 | 654| Sagamore | 3,108 | 1,343| 4,589 | 971| Sandwich | 2,626 | 2,925| 6,003 | 2,700| 1,000 West Barnstable | 8,081 | 1,804| 12,599 | 2,174| Barnstable | 399 | 9| 383 | 14| Yarmouth | 2,943 | 990| 5,373 | 673| 200 Hyannis | 1,754 | 589| 2,270 | 810| 1,000 South Yarmouth | 1,890 | 525| 4,712 | 503| South Dennis | 2,434 | 754| 5,780 | 787| North Harwich | 2,073 | 770| 3,945 | 1,257| 250 Harwich | 4,847 | 3,160| 10,996 | 3,059| South Harwich | 613 | 181| 802 | 702| South Chatham | 160 | 80| 382 | 139| Chatham | 498 | 241| 649 | 277| Pleasant Lake | 1,244 | 1,031| 1,369 | 1,210| Brewster | 2,440 | 457| 2,959 | 585| Orleans | 568 | 165| 1,218 | 164| Eastham | 104 | 36| 137 | 132| 50 North Eastham | 10 | 12| 36 | 36| South Wellfleet | 10 | 2| 26 | | Wellfleet | 80 | 55| 67 | 20| South Truro | 45 | 45| 27 | 20| Truro | | | 88 | | North Truro | | | 8 | | Provincetown | 146 | 61| 57 | 5| ----------------------------+--------+------+--------+------+-------- Total shipments, barrels | 79,006 |27,646|123,737 |31,761| 3,400 Boxes reduced to barrels | 9,215 | | 10,587 | | ----------------------------+--------+------+--------+------+-------- Total number barrels | 88,221 | |134,324 | | To be shipped | 1,665 | | 3,400 | | ----------------------------+--------+------+--------+------+-------- Total, Cape Cod Division| 89,886 | |137,724 | | ============================+========+======+========+======+========

CENTRAL DIVISION, OLD COLONY RAILROAD.

========================+======+======================== | 1890.| 1891. | STATIONS SHIPPED FROM. +------+--------+------+ TOTAL |BOXES.|BARRELS.|BOXES.|BARRELS. ------------------------+------+--------+------+-------- Plymouth |11,232| 11,194 | 980| 11,521 Plympton | 1,418| 1,964 | 589| 2,160 South Hanson | 660| 665 | 16| 670 Middleboro’ | | 2,045 | 1,038| 2,391 North Easton | | 300 | | 300 Taunton | 240| 232 | | 232 Mansfield | | 182 | | 182 Attleboro’ | 240| 528 | | 528 ------------------------+------+--------+------+-------- Central Division | | | | 17,984 Martha’s Vineyard | | | | 1,308 ------------------------+------+--------+------+-------- Total number barrels | | | | 19,292 Add Cape Cod Division | | | |137,724 ------------------------+------+--------+------+-------- Total number barrels| | | |157,016 Or 471,048 bushels. | | | | ========================+======+========================

THE 1891 CROP OF THE UNITED STATES.

Mr. A. J. Rider, Secretary of the American Cranberry Growers’ Association, estimates the entire crop of Cranberries grown in 1891 as follows:

New England 480,000 bush. New Jersey 250,000 ” The West 30,000 ” ------- Total 760,000 ”

Showing that the crop for the entire country was short 100,000 bushels, when compared with the 1890 crop.