The Cranberry. 45 



branch. Second. A complete system of open ditches, with proper mains 

 and branches, which shall serve both to drain and to irrigate as desired, 

 remembering that both are necessary according to excess or lack of water. 



3. Co-existing with the most perfect system of drainage should exist a 

 good, perfectly constructed dam, with sluices and gates. And here let me 

 say that a bog otherwise untit from want of living water is often available 

 by supplementing an additional supply in turning another stream. A 

 judicious hydraulic engineer may often remedy a fatal defect at moderate 

 expense ; several such cases have come to my knowledge. 



4. Sanding: Having removed all live vegetation apply seven to eight 

 inches of clean, sharp, coarse sand, as free from loam or clay as possible, 

 being careful not to endanger the open ditches in the application of sand. 

 Having everything in preparation, mark the ground in rows fourteen to 

 sixteen inches, and with a dibble forked or notched at the bottom and marked 

 to a half inch deeper than the sand. Take each plant or slip and properly 

 push down the depth so when set the plants shall all enter the soft peat or 

 muck one-half inch below the sand. With proper attention to water and 

 drainage success in the start may reasonably be expected. Subsequent work 

 maybe expressed in few words: "Allow no vegetation, either annual or 

 perennial, to get the slightest foothold to crowd upon the cranberry." 



Varieties: With increased interest in cranberry culture improved va- 

 rieties appear, differing in time of ripening, as also in form, color, size and 

 Havor. 



The chief requisites are to have enough varieties to give early and medium, 

 not to say late, on account of danger from frost, to have diversity of size and 

 color sufficient to suit different fancies. But for the main crop choose two 

 or three only of the safest and most productive varieties. On this score 

 seek the advice of experts in like locations with your own. 



Possibilities of failure : Counting chickens before they are hatched is more 

 prudent than relying on certain success in cranberry growing. 



My own State has been the arena of some enthusiastic cranberry compa- 

 nies. At one time they were more popular than gold mining companies,, 

 but I regret to say that many of them have literally gone to grass. All is 

 not gold that glitters. Cranberry enterprises do not always realize cranberry 

 successes. But failures, dismal though they are, are never without causes. 

 N(Av, to overcfyme these is the problem to solve. 



The average cranberry company, with its president, directors, secretary 

 and treasurer, sometimes lacks intelligent comprehension, firmness, and 

 unity of purpose. That " too many cooks spoil the broth " is true in cran- 

 berry growing. A wise autocrat is the only adequate ruler of a cranberry 

 bog. 



But, seriously, there are evils of no small magnitude in cranberry growing : 



1. Damage by untimely frosts. With a quick water supply and a watch 

 of probabilities, danger in spring may be permanently averted. With sharp 

 promptness in autumn gathering may be usually completed. 



