250 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I915. 



the end of July. There, the picking season lasts from the tenth 

 of August until mid-September. The greater part of the barrens 

 is owned by comparatively few individuals but for a moderate 

 rental they lease the land to farmers and others living in the 

 vicinity who, as v^^ill be explained shortly, take charge of the 

 burning and picking and in general care for the property. The 

 berries are picked with a rake somewhat similar to that used 

 for gathering cranberries, consisting of a flat tray one end of 

 which is prolonged into a row of 25 or 30 small steel teeth 

 while to the opposite end a short handle is attached. When in 

 use, it is swung with a forward-directed lifting movement 

 More or less foreign material such as leaves and stems is gath- 

 ered in this way together with the fruit, but usually the berries 

 are given a preliminary winnowing in the field, and this removes 

 the coarser dirt. With the rake, one man can pick on the 

 average about 3 bushels a day and it is estimated that one acre 

 yields about 60 bushels of berries. The land is valued at about 

 50 dollars per acre. After the berries have been winnowed, 

 they are packed in half bushel boxes and driven to the can- 

 neries. During the picking season the pickers move out to the 

 barrens with their families and live in tents, so that the plains 

 appear not unlike an army encampment, for at this time there 

 are some 1.200 or more people finding their employment there. 



Although the blueberry stands transportation well, compara- 

 tively little of the fruit is shipped fresh on account of the high 

 rates charged, ' and most of the berries are sold directly to the can- 

 neries and to the local markets. Washington County is the home 

 of the blueberry industry in this state and 12 canneries are located 

 in various towns in this county, as well as one in Amherst in 

 Hancock County. Each cannery has a capacity of several hun- 

 dred bushels per day and employs from 20 to 30 people. In 

 t886 when the first attempt was made to can the berries, 5,000 

 bushels were put up; whereas in 1912 some 90,000 bushels were 

 canned and the industry valued at $2,000,000. 



Every third year the barrens are burned over, although occa- 

 sionally the land is allowed to lie unburned for as many as 5 

 years or even longer. As a rule, each owner divides his land 

 into 3 approximately equal lots which are burned in rotatio2i, 

 one each year. No berries are produced on the "new burn" (by 



