ut to work in the afternoon and
the berries be effectually covered by water and thus protected before
nightfall. At sunrise the gates are opened and the water allowed to
run off again, so that the pickers may proceed with their work. The
marsh is flooded to a depth of about two feet at the beginning of each
winter and allowed to remain so until spring, the heavy body of ice
that forms preventing the upheaval that would result from freezing and
thawing--a natural process which, if permitted, works injury to the
vines.

There is a three-story warehouse on the marsh, with a capacity of
20,000 barrels of berries, and four large two-story houses capable of
furnishing shelter for 1,500 pickers. The superintendent's residence
is a comfortable cottage house, surrounded by giant oaks and elms, and
stands near the warehouse on an "island," or small tract of high, dry
land near the center of the great marsh. The pickers' quarters stand
on another island about 200 yards away.

A plank roadway, built on piles, about two feet above the level of the
ground, leads from the mainland to the warehouse and other buildings,
a distance of more than half a mile. Several wooden railways diverge
from the warehouse to all parts of the marsh, and on them flat cars,
propelled by hand, are sent out at intervals during the picking season
to bring in the berries from the hands of the pickers. Each picker is
provided with a crate, holding just a bushel, which is kept close at
hand. The berries are first picked into tin pans and pails, and from
these emptied into the crates, in which they are carried to the
warehouse, where an empty crate is given the picker in exchange for a
full one. Thus equipped and improved, the Sackett marsh is valued at
$150,000. Thirteen thousand barrels have been harvested from this
great farm in a single season. The selling price in the Chicago market
varies, in different seasons, from $8 to $16 per barrel. There are
several other marshes of various sizes in the vicinity.

The picking season usually begins about Sept. 1, and from that time
until Oct. 1 the marshes swarm with men, women, and children, ranging
in age from six to eight years, made up from almost every nationality
under the sun. Bohemians and Poles furnish the majority of the working
force, while Germans, Irish, Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, negroes,
Indians, and Americans contribute to the motley contingent. They come
from every direction and from various distan