48 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



cast and harrowed in, though it is considered best, on some 

 accounts, to sow in drills and cover properly. These slips very 

 soon take root, starting from the base of the leaves, and at the 

 same time shooting up many rising branches. If sown broad- 

 cast and harrowed, they sliould not be overflowed till the slips 

 have taken root, as otherwise, many, remaining uncovered, will 



be floated off. 



In the case of cranberries growing wild, it is a common and 

 well-known practice to flow or cover them with water during 

 the winter and early spring. This is very desirable, if the 

 situation is such as to allow it, though it is not generally con- 

 sidered as essential by those who have been most successful. 

 It is often useful, where there are facilities for flowing, to let 

 the water remain a few inches deep till the spring is well ad- 

 vanced, (some think, till the first of May, or even later,) to 

 retard the blossoming till there is no danger from frosts. 

 Facilities for flowing are desirable in the cultivation of cran- 

 berries, also, and if the plantation could be so arranged as to 

 flow very quickly, it might be of essential service, occasionally, 

 during the spring or autumn. 



As the cranberry, in its natural state, is more frequently 

 found growing in a low wet swamp or marsh, that kind of land 

 is generally selected for its cultivation. 



The mode of setting out the cranberry in such a swamp, if 

 we suppose it to be covered with bushes and grass, and sur- 

 rounded by a sandy soil, or in the immediate neighborhood of 

 sand, would be as follows : First, cut the bushes and pare off 

 the surface turf to the depth of several inches, so as to remove, 

 as far as possible, the roots of grasses and bushes; then 

 level the whole by filling in sand to the depth of from two to 

 four or five inches, according to circumstances. It is desirable 

 that the surface of the sand should be but slightly raised above 

 the level of the water of the swamp, meadow, or pond filled up, 

 so that, by digging into the sand with the hand or the hoe, the 

 water may be found within two or three inches of the surface. 

 The plants should be taken up with the spade in square turfs, 

 of the thickness of two or three inches, this being the depth 

 to which the roots generally descend. When the ground has 

 been levelled and prepared as directed above, it will be found 



