This diminutive fruit has had its economic and personal effect on those who have pursued it for a livelihood. What captures the reader’s imagination is the hundreds of old photos depicting the lives of the field workers, the gradual change to industrial agricultural and the inventive marketing endeavors that brought a fortune to companies such as Ocean Spray.
The story begins with the domestication of what was once a wild plant and the beginning of its cultivation in an artificial growing environment. This was not an easy task: “choosing vines to take from the wild called for an acute sensitivity,” which fascinated wilderness trekkers such as Thoreau. It was “an age of relentless plant hybridization.” In the 1850s, growing cranberries was a long shot in agriculture. The authors, a husband and wife team, have exhausted northeastern archives to bring us this story.
“The cranberry season comes across as an idyll, a month of work and fellowship among small town neighbors.” The work was incredibly labor intensive, workers moving along on their knees in a posture described as “being doubled up like a jackknife.” Pickers from places such as the Cape Verde Islands, Poland, Finland and Italy earned about ten cents for every six-quart measure.
Agricultural cooperatives were unknown in New England. However, the growers soon realized they needed to cooperate to get the best prices for their efforts. A Cranberry Growers Association was formed, thus maximizing the monetary returns of the dozens of small growers. Industrial machines and tools were invented and shared.
Eventually picking machines were invented, becoming more and more efficient. Even so, generations raised on old methods of production were wary. “Holding to old ways of growing and harvesting the cranberry was an expression of loyalty to older generations.”
Water harvesting became a great advantage to growers. With water and a novel machine the grower was able to harvest almost every cranberry he had grown.
The many photos in the book and the many personal interviews conducted bring an intimate framework to the story of the cranberry, illustrating both the industrial challenge and America’s growing demand for fruit juices. The authors have gathered an in-depth historical record, which is fascinating to read. Rich details emerge. Though “not the stuff of thrillers,” Cole writes wryly, “it is always interesting to watch what transpires when man tries to alter a denizen of the natural world.”