CRANBERRIES. 287 



a dear lover of water, and wants nothing stronger, and in this 

 particular, is well entitled to our confidence."* 



C. L. Flint, Esq., tlie Secretary of the Mass. Board of Agri- 

 culture, says, in his admirable Report of 1853 : " The experiments 

 which have already been made, clearly show the practicability 

 of raising cranberries on upland. I have seen flourishing plan- 

 tations of them on all varieties of soils, from a high and light 

 gravelly loam to a very deep, rich, garden soil. Indeed, the 

 universal opinion seems to be that siich cranberries are better 

 than those growing naturally in wet meadows. In the instances 

 which I have seen, the land had been carefully ploughed and 

 prepared, as it usually is for strawberries, or plants of that 

 description. The plants were taken from their original situa- 

 tion in the manner described, in the sod, and freed from grasses 

 and roots ; they were then put into shallow trenches or drills, 

 dug for the purpose, about two and a half or three feet apart. 

 In consequence of the large space left between the drills, con- 

 stant and careful attention was necessary for two or tlirce years, 

 so that far more labor was spent on them than the same area 

 of strawberries would have required." 



The chief obstacles to the upland culture of the cranberry 

 appear to be the difficulty of preventing the growth of grass and 

 weeds, and the necessity of preserving moisture in the soil. 

 These arc, neither of them, it is proved, insuperable ; and we 

 apprehend that, on soils similar to that alluded to in both the 

 foregoing extracts, some other substance than meadow mud 

 might be used with advantage for both purposes. Perhaps spent 

 tan, pure beach sand, or where these cannot be had, any fine 

 sand, put between the vines, would retard the growth of grass 

 and weeds. Salt and plaster would absorb and retain moisture ; 

 and the former we think to be most serviceable, if not necessary, 



* We copy the following from a late issue of the Salem Register : — 

 " Cranberries.- — Elias Necdliam, Esq., of West Danvers, has a lot of uj)land, 

 bordering upon the Danvers Railroad, containing five-eighths of an acre. 

 Upon this, some five or six years since, he set out cranberry plants, and has 

 cultivated them with great care. This year he picked ninety-seven bushels of 

 excellent cranberries, which he sold for four dollars per bushel ; and besides 

 these there were some ten bushels of damaged berries. From trees on the 

 same land he picked fourteen barrels of apples, whieh he sold for four dollars 

 per barrel, — making the gross income from five-eighths of an acre, four hun- 

 dred and forty-four dollars ! " 



