144 STATE BOAED OF AGEICULTURE. 



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years at one dollar or more per bushel. It is adapted to various other crops, 

 such as turnips, oats, millet, Hungarian, etc., but the best crop, and the one 

 sure to subdue the land quick and bring quick returns, is buckAvheat. I should 

 sow it every time. Indeed, I find it as i^rofitable under the right conditions as 

 wheat or any other cro]3. 



There are many drains cut across open fields, and many more needed. The 

 usual way, of course, is to shovel them out, but I think I worked out an 

 improvement on that method last fall. I took the plow and commenced plow- 

 ing the same as to plow around a small land, and after ploAving and dragging it 

 five or six times I scraped it back each way, using for a scraper a two-inch 

 plank seven feet long, simply beA"eled off on one edge, and a hole through near 

 each end to put in a chain, and fitted Avith tAvo handles. After scraping, plow 

 several times and scrape again. I think a ditch can be cut in this Avay for one- 

 fourth the exijense that it can be Avitli the shovel, and it certainly is worth four 

 times as much. You aa'Iio may try this ploAV hereafter for the first time will 

 be surprised to see hoAV easily the Avork can be accomplished. 



Mr. HoAvard S. Kogers next read an essay on 



THE CRAKBERRT, — ITS CULTURE, ETC. 



The increasing demand, and high price Avhich this fruit has brought in the 

 past few years, has stimulated agriculturists into looking after the proper 

 requirements for supplying the demand. Like all new enterprises and under- 

 takings, it has been attended from the start Avith difficulties. These have 

 occurred from the Avant of projier knoAvledge supported by experience, and as a 

 consequence failure and disappointment haA'C frequently been the result, AA'hile 

 success, as a rule, has rather been the excejotion. 



The reason for this is obvious to the most superficial observer ; for like every- 

 thing else that promises a large return for a small investment, it will find 

 inexperienced enthusiasts Avho are ready to put in their last dollar and take the 

 chances ; and as a consequence many ha^-e abandoned cranberry culture in dis- 

 gust. But the culturist aa'Iio has set out AAdtli a determination to succeed, has 

 only to remember that nearly CA'ery valuable product noAV raised on the farm 

 has at some time or other been the subject of failure and speculation, and it 

 Avould be a little singular if the cranberry did not haA-e to pass through the same 

 ordeal. 



Varieties. 



The cranberry family is divided into four varieties ; or more properly one 

 variety subdivided into four sub-varieties : 



1st, The Cherry, Avhicli is the most common, and so named from its close 

 resemblance to the fruit after Avhicli it is called ; 



3d, The Bugle cranberry, so called from its resemblance in shape to the bugle 

 bead ; 



3d, The Bell or Pear sliaped cranberry, so called from its fancied resemblance 

 in shape to a bell or j^ear ; 



4th, The Small Gray, of irregular shaj)e, and dark gray or brown in color. 



Of the three former, for productiveness or quality there is but little choice, 

 and that more in the eye and taste of the cultivator than any real distinction 

 there is in them. 



Of the small gray, although of similar habit to the others, in some respects it 

 is entirely distinct. "While it grows on a vine that cannot be distinguished from 



