134 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



his trail, aud the monopoly, but briefly enjoyed, ere long gives 

 way to sharp competition, and the new enterprise becomes in its 

 turn like all the rest, the most that can be said of it being, " small 

 gains, but sure." According to the farmer's code, monopolies of 

 this kind are not consistent with the spirit of the maxim, *' Fair 

 play." 



It has been supposed by many that there is money in cranberries, 

 that the cranberry meadow is the paradise of fruit-growers, the 

 ne plus ultra of the capacity of Mother earth to enrich and bless 

 the yeomanry of the land. But the truth is, cranberries, as a 

 cultivated crop, will not grow until we learn the method of cul- 

 ture, and then work to make them grow. As regards the site, 

 methods, success, &c., various opinions have been expressed. 

 Mr. E. W, Crane, who is considered a competent judge, says : 

 " The best locations for the cranberry are peat or muck bottoms, 

 with adjoining banks of pure sand for covering, before the plants 

 are set, and so situated that they can be flowed in winter and 

 spring, and drained at all other seasons of the year." Mr. Phinney 

 of Barnstable, Mass., writes : " Successful culture means that the 

 crops, including present value of meadows, have more than repaid 

 the original cost, interest and incidental expenses of cultivation, 

 gathering and sending to market." 



But to come nearer home. Conspicuous among the cranberry 

 growers in this section of the State, is Mr. Benjamin Shattuck of 

 Red Beach, who may be regarded as the foremost of the pioneers 

 in this business in Eastern Maine. Located in a region naturally 

 rough and forbidding, surrounded in part by small mountains of the 

 superb red granite which is destined to make the locality famous, he 

 and his two sons, Benj. and Geo. C, availing themselves of the mar- 

 shes and lakes which partially occupy their territory, have achieved 

 success in the culture of the cranberry. Some twenty-five or thirty 

 years ago the elder Mr. Shattuck noticed near the edge of a bush 

 swamp, three acres in extent, a few small patches of cranberry 

 vines, bearing fruit. Conceiving at once the idea of enlarging the 

 area and product of the vines, he soon after began to remove the 

 bushes, pulling them up by the roots ; using the hands, and a team 

 when occasion required. The plants, but few in number, were 

 then set at wide aiid varying distances, often more than a rod 

 apart each way. They spread rapidly, soon covering the whole 

 ground, and producing, after the plants had become well estab- 

 lished, fifty to two hundred bushels per acre from year to year. 



