Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 October 1889 — THE CRANBERRY BOGS. [ARTICLE]

THE CRANBERRY BOGS.

How the Tart Assistant to Thanksgiving Turkey is Harvested. The beginning of the cranberry harvest in southern and western New Jersey is the terror of elderly housewives and the joy of the younger generation . Unless restrained by Tan iron-bound contract, domestics break away from Their temporary homes and hasten to join the small armies of cranberry pickers that gather on the variousplantations. In the western part oi the state Italians often harvest the crops. They arrive from Philadelphia and adjacent cities in large numbersand live in tents and shanties during the six weeks they are employed as pickers. Bet, ie. va w-Xx. xsWiCn contains more acres of cranberry land than any other county in the state by_ a large area, the -picking is done entirely by native New Jersey youngmen and women, girls and boys: Hereand there an entire family assembles at the bogs during the first week irt September, s,nd under an overseer proceed to gather the pin!; and crid fruit, without which'the 'Thanksgiving turkey would be esteemed a very ordinary, bird. The price for harvesting varies from forty to fifty cents' a bushel, says the" N. Y. Sun, the larger sum generally prevailing. A larger sum is paid where the crops are more difficult to be harvested because of their more springy and boggy condition. As the berries yield proliiieally and grow not unlike grapes, except that ,the_elusters arc upon a single stem, the pickers earn considerab.e money. The heads of families put it aside for their winter groceries, the girls for their, finery,: and the boys for* horses and buggies to treat their sweethearts, to frequent rides and for go-to-meetin’ clothing. A good cranberrv picker easily earns s2a day, and $3 is not unfrequently within Um reach of the most nimble fingers. Theyietd is rarely below 150 bushels to the acre, and a few years ago over 40.) bushels were harvested from a single aere on the : Bunker Hill bog, four miles from this village. . On :i Imost every <• 1 •;ti 11 •1 • v .farm4lic owners of the bogs issue tickets to their employes, ilm tickets representing quarts, pecks, and bushels. Thgse bits of pasteboard are intrusted.to the foreman, whose place is what, is known . as the cranberry house, where each picker -must carry the as fast ■ as they are gathered. There they are dumped from usually a peeltaijov or b isket into a bushel er.de, ami a ticket for four <[Uiiris is issued to each picker as the berries are turned in. Some notion of the magnitude of this industry in Ocean county may be gatli' r red ■from t tie fact 1 hat cx-Sheri ff Hol ma n. one of the largest growers there-, requires 10,000 tickets to conduct his business with the, pickers during liar- ■■ - vest time. H’Thtrscene OirFrornbefry plantation in the picking season is picturesque. -Down mpon tbei r -kiHies in a- son g-zig'- w zag line stretching from one side of the bog to the other girls dressed in calicoes and ginghams, and with lon® sun-bonnets concealing . many pretty faces, pick berries next to bright-eyed boys. The pickers chatter all the daythrough. The setting of the sun is the signal for a song.in a chorus where, every voice is mingled, and “The Old Folks at Home,”' or some other familiar plantation song rings out clear, strong and sonorous, waking the echoes of the hills around. When the plantation is stripped of its fruit there is a dance in the long _ two-stnry ei’iiiibo.ri-y—storage- house.--The girls, showering in ringlets about their faces or streaming in long, dark tresses over their plain-cut gowns; and the boys, beardless and moustached, congregate and await the pleasure of the floor manager to give the signal. “get ybur partners lol* a plain qitgid- " rille. The fiddlers (at least two, often three of them), high above the floor, upon a platform of packing crates, are .....ready to-begin thc music. Away with a rush go twenty'sets of merry'ifiakefs'r in and out through the figures of the old-fashioned dance. The only intermission in the night’s fun is the enjoyment of the supper, spread on long tables in the second story of the building.