Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 May 1895 — Harvesting Blue Flag. [ARTICLE]

Harvesting Blue Flag.

Everybody knows what the cat-tail is. A few years ago city people tied cat-tails in bunches with gaudy ribbons and used them to decorate their dining-rooms and parlors. When that fad prevailed the flag gatherers made a good deal more money than they do to-day. The cat-tail Is the blossom of the blue flag, and grows at the top of a tall, slender stalk that rises from the midst of a lot of ribbon-like leaves. For miles Coliansey creek is choked with the blue flag. There are acres upon acres of it, and It furnishes a living to a good many people, who do but little each year aside from gathering its blossom in the autumn. The blossoms gathered are allowed to lie on the sand two or three days under the sun so as to render them perfectly dry. Twice a day they are turned over. If It is damp, cloudy or rainy weather they are carefully covered with canvas. When the blossoms are dry they are stripped from the stalk by children and spread in shallow tins, where they are allowed to lie for two or three days more under the sun, being turned or shaken up half a dozen times a day. When they are completely dried they are packed in gunny sacks and shipped to the city. The dried blossom is very light and fluffy and is used in the manufacture of cheap pillows and mattresses. It sells for twenty-five cents a pound and some men make twenty dollars a day gathering it.