PICKING. 85 



some have experienced in obtaining money to carry out 

 their too extensively laid plans. We therefore recommend 

 all beginners who are likely to fall into this difficulty, to 

 count the cost before beginning, and allow a sufficient 

 margin for contingencies. It is better to complete five 

 acres than, in clearing fifteen, to exhaust the treasury, 

 and leave the vines unplanted. 



CHAPTER IX. 



PICKING. 



If you, persevering reader, have practically followed us 

 through all the matter-of-fact descriptions of locating the 

 meadow, preparing it for the vines, and bringing it into 

 the best possible condition for future profit, you may, per- 

 haps, by this time, have experienced some of the weariness 

 felt by us while living for months in a log cabin, laboring 

 to accomplish the self-imposed task of setting out thirty- 

 two acres of cranberry meadow. If so, we trust when you 

 come to " picking" on your own account, you will realize 

 some of the pleasure and satisfaction incident to finding 

 the fruit of one's own labors abundant. 



The picking season is a pleasant one, for several reasons, 

 to both picker and proprietor. The weather is proverbially 

 fine in that most delightful of all months, October, when 

 women and children turn out in great numbers to join 

 the " cranberry picking " frolic, with well-filled dinner 

 baskets and happy countenances. 



The price for picking averages about fifty cents per 

 bushel; the hands, at this rate, making $1 per day, although 

 a " right smart " picker can, where the berries are numer- 

 ous, e^ru $2 per day. 



