For strawberry pickers, camping trips were no picnic in the park

“Arrangements are being made,” the Milford Chronicle reported on May 4, 1917, “for taking as many boys to Sussex County as wish to go to give them a chance for a camping out trip, and at the same time an opportunity of making a considerable sum of money … Several prominent Sussex Countians were in Wilmington last week for the purpose of making arrangements for the strawberry season.”

The early European settlers in Delaware were primarily interested in growing tobacco, but the instability of the tobacco market, however, drove Sussex County farmers to plant wheat, corn and other grains.

After the Civil War, peaches became a favorite crop of Delaware farmers, and for several decades, peaches were kings of Sussex County agriculture; but after several years of unseasonable frosts, and an attack of a virus called the “yellows” decimated southern Delaware peach orchards, farmers turned to raising strawberries, which flourished in the area’s well-drained, sandy soil.

On Feb. 3, 1872, the Middletown Transcript reported, “The experience of the past few years has proved that small fruits and berries, in this section of the country, are among the most profitable crops which can be grown, and there is no doubt that their cultivation will receive increased attention, especially as the means of transportation are becoming more compete each succeeding year. Among the berries which have been grown with great success, the strawberry in particular is well adapted to this region.

Delaware’s railroad and steamboat network enabled the fruit to be  transported swiftly to markets in Philadelphia, Wilmington and New York, within a few hours of the time of picking.

The Middletown Transcript glowingly predicted, “It is almost impossible to glut the market with the strawberry. Over production has never yet been experienced, nor will it, probably ever be. There is a growing demand for fruits of all kinds and their consumption increases in a greater ratio than the increase of the population. While strawberries can be furnished in good conditions they will always meet with ready sale.”

As production grew, however, the availability of pickers created a serious problem for Delaware strawberry growers. At harvest time, many pickers were recruited from Baltimore, Philadelphia and other cities.

According to the May 28, 1909, issue of the Wilmington Evening Journal, “Everybody from the father to the baby goes. Each family has separate quarters, and stoves are generally provided. All the marketing is done in the towns. If the grower is a truck farmer, much of the vegetables are purchased from him. The employer pays the fare of the entire family to and from the place at the beginning and end of the strawberry season.”

For each box of strawberries, the picker received one and a half cents and an industrious family could earn in a six- or seven-week season from $100 to $150.

Picking strawberries was no picnic in the park. The pickers often arrived in the fields at three in the morning; and working by the light of oil lamps, they spent hours hunched over, plucking strawberries and loading them into small baskets.

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The baskets were packed onto horse-drawn wagons which carried the delicate fruit to Selbyville, Millsboro, and other southern Delaware rail depots.

In 1917, the school boys of Wilmington were offered, “a chance for a camping out trip, and at the same time an opportunity of making a considerable sum of money,” but picking strawberries was not sitting around the camp fire singing “Kumbaya.”

Principal sources:

Milford Chronicle, May 4, 1917.

Middletown Transcript, Feb. 3, 1872.

Evening Journal, May 28, 1909.

Richard B. Carter, Clearing New Ground, The Life of John G. Townsend, Jr., Wilmington: The Delaware Heritage Press, 2001, pp. 51-54, 125-129.

Delaware, A Guide to the First State, Federal Writers’ Project, New York: The Viking Press, 1938, pp. 390-391.

This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: For strawberry pickers, camping trips were no picnic in the park