CRANBERRY CULTURE. ;139 



by women chiefly. lie does not use the cranberry rake much, it 

 injures the vines. They could take them off faster with the rake. 

 If it is wet, they have a piece of plank or of cloth to sit on, and 

 in that way keep dry. 



Mr. Lyman II. Winslow of Nobleboro', Member from Lincoln 

 county. I am not an exten&ive cranberry raiser. I have raised 

 two or three barrels this year. I have a low meadow, which is 

 flowed in the winter time, and pretty late in the spring. A few 

 years ago I came upon a cranberry patch by the side of the pond 

 shore, and I took up some vines and tramped them into the meadow 

 with my foot. In a few years I found I had quite a little patch of 

 cranberries in the grass. A few years ago I took some of the 

 turf ofi" and set some vines out, and they grew a year or two, and 

 then died. There isn't a root left now, while those set in the 

 grass are all there. They will kill out the grass, and you will 

 have no trouble if you only keep the bushes down. There are 

 considerable many raised in my vicinity, and none of us can flow 

 them. I never lost any but once. We sometimes pick them 

 when green for fear of the frost. I think the flavor is not quite as 

 good when picked green. 



Question. If a man has a small patch, and raises cranberries 

 for his own use, instead of picking them green, wouldn't it be 

 policy to cover them ? 



Mr. Winslow. I should think it would be very good policy ; 

 and let me say that there are very few farmers but have some 

 little place on the farm where they can raise cranberries enough 

 for their own use. I get more profit in proportion from my cran- 

 berries than from any other crop I raise. My ground is soft. I 

 can run a pole down 10 or 15 feet. Now I believe this matter of 

 cranberry culture is one of great importance to the State. How 

 many acres there are in every section of it that seem good for 

 nothing but to hold the State together, and yet these same lands 

 might be brought into cranberry fields and made to pay. Let me 

 ask this question ? If we could take our best fields, and by put- 

 ting on a liberal dressing of stable manure could raise cranberries 

 on them, who is there that would not raise enough so that he 

 might have this delicious fruit on his table ? There are some who 

 won't -try to raise them because they can't flow in the spring and 

 in the fall, and so fear that they may sometimes lose a crop from 

 the worm or the frost. But are we sure of a crop of corn ? Don't 

 the midge and the rust sometimes destroy our wheat ? Can we 



