58 
AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
ing the fruit. Mr. Freeman receives for the use of the land one-half cent per 
quart for all the fruit gathered. The pickers receive one and one-half to 
three cents per quart; those who lease the land and haul the fruit to the 
canning factory, or to the station for shipment, one-half to one cent per quart. 
The fruit is all canned or shipped by one firm in Cherryfield (J. & E. A. 
Wyman, who keep a record of the fruit as it is brought in and pay the 
royalty to Mr. Freeman, retaining for themselves whatever profit there may 
be on the canned fruit. 
Every year a certain section of each “lease” is burned over. This burning 
must be done very early in the spring, before the ground becomes dry; other- 
wise the fire goes too deep, the humus is burned from the ground and most of 
the bushes are killed. Many hundred acres, on what should be the best part 
of the “barrens” have thus been ruined. The method most commonly used 
in burning a given area, is for the operator to pass around the section to 
be burned, dragging after him an ordinary torch or a mill lamp. He then 
retraces his steps and follows over the burned area setting new fires in the 
portions which have escaped, and back-firing if there is danger of spreading 
unduly over areas which it is desired to leave unburned. A device found in 
use by one party consists of a piece of % inch gas pipe bent at the end at 
an angle of about 60 degrees. The end opposite the bent portion is closed 
with a cap or plug and in the other end after filling the pipe with kerosene 
is placed a plug of cotton waste or tow. This device is regarded superior 
to the lamp or torch, as it is more easily handled. 
As already indicated, most of the fruit from the barrens is taken to the 
factories for canning. Early in the season, however, before the factories are 
opened, a considerable amount is shipped to Portland, Boston and other 
points for use while fresh. This fruit is usually shipped in cases of thirty- 
two quart boxes each. 
All of this early fruit is picked by hand, and only the ripe fruit is gathered. 
Later in the season, particularly on “old burns” i. e., on areas which will 
have to be burned over the next year, the fruit is gathered with a “blueberry 
rake.” This is an implement somewhat similar to the cranberry rakes in 
use on Cape Cod, and may be likened to a dust pan, the bottom of which is 
composed of stiff, parallel wire rods. The fruit .may be gathered much more 
quickly and more cheaply by means of the rake. The bushes are, however, 
seriously injured by this treatment. In no case should the rake be used in 
gathering the high bush blueberries. 
The canning of blueberries is largely in the hands of a few leading pack- 
ers, among whom may be mentioned; J. & E. A. Wyman, Cherryfield; Colum- 
bia Falls Packing Company, and J. A. Coffin, Columbia Falls; and Burnham 
& Morrill, Harrington. At the Wyman cannery, which has a daily capacity 
of 700 bushels, the average annual output is about 8,300 cases of two dozen 
cans each; representing 6,250 bushels of fresh fruit. The average price per 
case for the canned fruit is $1.90. In other words, the value of the annual 
product of this one factory is not far from $15,000. 
*The total canned product of the “blueberry barrens” in 1898 was about 
15,000 cases, valued at about $28,500,— and this -was but little more than one- 
half of the average season’s production, which is said to be about 30,000 cases. 
The present season the crop is particularly good and it is estimated that 
the total pack will be about 50,000 cases; while, thanks to the tariff on can- 
ned blueberries, the price has risen to $2.20 per case. In other words, the 
value of the blueberry crop in this one small section, the present season, is 
considerably more than $100,000. 
