CHAPTER XI. 



CRANBERRY PICKING TIME. 



Different Methods of Picking — Rakino — Packing. 



The cranberry is rarely ripe until tlie beginning or 

 middle of October. At that time the cultivators 

 begin to pick the fruit and get it ready for market. 

 There are two methods of picking. The first is by 

 hand. It is customary in some regions to engage chil- 

 dren for this purpose, who are paid at the rate of 

 thirty or thirty-three cents per bushel. It is seldom 

 that the best or quickest pickers gather more than three 

 bushels during one day. To do this is extraordinary 

 work. There must be a superintendent or overseer 

 with them, or they will be apt to slight them. The 

 interest of the cultivator is to have his vines picked 

 clean. 



The second method is by raking. This cannot be 

 adopted in cranberry yards where the vines have 

 become matted. To attempt it would be folly, because 

 the teeth of the rake would tear up the vines and 

 runners, and do them a serious injury. 



Those yards in which the rake is used from the first 



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