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bottoms, the waters of which were charged with bicarbonate of iron in 

 solution. Not unfrequently would the peat be found six feet in thick- 

 ness. Captain Small lias a successful plot, consisting of coarse, sharp 

 sand, deeply colored with iron. The bed of sand is 18 inches in thick- 

 ness, and rests on "hard i)an," a solid bed of bog-iron. Such iron 

 basins are formed from the precipitation of iron held in solution in the 

 water which flows over the bog land. Captain Small informed me that, 

 on some parts of Cape Cod beach, cranberries grow successfully on 

 pure sand when luovided with an adequate and constant sui)i)ly of 

 peaty water. Much stress is placed on the quality of sand by all cran- 

 berry growers. It is claimed by all with whom I have convers(id on 

 the subject, that coarse, clean, sharp sand is best adapted to the growtli 

 of the vines, and my own experience coincides with this view. In 

 some cases only an inch of sand is placed over a peat bottom, and then 

 it is planted with vines, the roots growing directly in the muck. In 

 other cases as many as 10 inches of sand have been placed over the 

 muck or peat, the growth of roots in such cases being conlined wholly 

 to the sand, which, however, conveys the soluble hunjus of the peat 

 to the roots of the plants. There is always a rankness of root ami 

 vine growth when the vines are planted directly in peat, and as the 

 growth of plants is continued longer under such conditions they arc. 

 longer in bearing their fruit. The same remarks apply to plants which 

 are heavily manured, and constantly supplied with an abundance of 

 water. I have found in every case where the runners have been sanded 

 to the depth of about an inch and properly watered, they readily take 

 root in the fresh sand and produce a line growth of lateral branches. 

 It has been found in some cases that sanding the vines in this way has 

 as good an effect on their growth as an a])})lication of guano^ Several 

 small cranberry plantations were pointed out to me which had, at various 

 times, been flooded with salt water, not only on Cape Cod, but also in 

 New Jersey ; but there was no evidence to show that salt sea-water, 

 reduced in strength by heavy rains, affected the growth of the vines for 

 good or evil. 



It is believed by many successful cranberry growers that the runners 

 of the vines should be sanded at least once in four years when practi- 

 cable, and some growers sand them as often as once in three years. 

 The great advantage derived from the sanding process consists in the 

 stimulating of new roots along all the runners imbedded in the sand; 

 and it seenjsfrom my investigation that the original roots decay incon- 

 sequence of the vigor of the new ones 5 but the sand also protects the 

 runners from extreme heat and premature frost. 



At the Bricksburgh annual meeting of the Cranberry Growers' Asso- 

 ciation, I was inform(!d by gentlemen from Pemberton and its vicinity, 

 that the plantations in tlieir neighborhood differ very much from all I 

 had visited. Their soil is savanna and is very dry in most places, and 

 previous to the last three years tlieir berries had not rotted. I was 

 further informed that Mr. Ilinchman's plantation near Medford, pre- 

 sented conditions which apparently conld be found on no other, his vines 

 being more copiously watered than any I had yet seen, while his berries 

 were exempt from the rot. At the earnest request of members of the 

 association I visited this plantation, and those in the vicinity of Pem- 

 berton aV)ove referred to, as well as that of Mr. N. 11. Bishop, near 

 Manahawkin, Ocean County, in order to obtain additional facts in 

 regard to the habits of the cranberry plant under new and exceptional 

 methods of culture. 



