30 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



THE CRANBERRY. 



ESSEX. 

 [Statement of H. A. Stiles of Middleton.] 



In 1874, the year after I received the society's premium 

 for an experiment in the cultivation of the cranberry, half 

 an acre of the land which grew the premium crop this year 

 was burnt over by sparks from the railroad ; and conse- 

 quently but few cranberries have grown there until the pres- 

 ent season. This piece of land was ploughed, harrowed, and 

 rolled down smoothly, and, after setting the vines about ten 

 inches apart, no labor worthy of note has since been ex- 

 pended by way of improvement. As the soil is quite sandy 

 (a very important requisite, considering the comparative 

 cheapness of preparing the land by ploughing}, I regard it as 

 my best experiment in growing the cranberry. 



That portion of land (about an acre) west of the rail- 

 road, which contains more muck and less sand, I did not 

 plough, but spread upon the grass about three inches of 

 coarse sand; and it has generally produced good crops of 

 cranberries yearly. Last year the prospect for an abundant 

 crop on all my lots was never so good, until the 6th of June, 

 when that remarkable frost destroyed them. Last Septem- 

 ber I spread from the cart two inches of sand over this piece 

 of land; and, although the quantity of berries was not in- 

 creased this year, they ripened earlier, and were less injured 

 by the frosts of September, and will, the next few years, 

 amply repay the expense. In seKing vines upon land unlit 

 to be ploughed, which produces grass naturally, I would 

 spread upon the surface, in August, from one to two tons of 

 cheap hay per acre, covering the same with two or three 

 inches of sand, for the good of the cranberry, and to keep the 

 hay in place. In the month of May following would set the 



