12 CAPE COD CRANBERRIES. 



now be obtained at any good hardware store in Boston. 

 They consist of a thin, steel blade, hatchet-shaped, and 

 about six inches square. This blade is made fast to a 

 stout hickory handle, some two feet and a half long, in 



Fig. 1. TURFING AXE. 



the same manner as a common wood axe. In expert 

 hands, this axe does wonderful execution upon the tough, 

 interlacing roots, with which the surface of the bog is 

 filled. The method of cutting the turf is this : One man 

 cuts across the bog, from side to side in parallel lines, a 

 foot and a half apart, and cuts across between the lines 

 at like distances. Two men, with three or four-pronged, 

 iron-toothed rakes, catch hold of the turf, as the cutter 

 goes along, and pull it over after him. After being cut 

 into these squares, it is desirable that the turf should be 

 turned over very regularly, because the more evenly it is 



Fig, 2. HAULING RAKE. 



turned over, the easier will be the work of grading. 

 Hence, the haulers, or men plying the rakes, should be 

 faithful and reliable, giving attention to their duty, and 

 doing it thoroughly and well. No overseer who under- 

 stands his business will allow this part of the work to be 



