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MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 165 
ered with cranberry vines. The history of this patch proves the 
natural adaptability of our peaty marshes to cranberry culture. 
About ten years ago, as Mr. Kenney informed us, a few cranberry 
vines made their appearance at a point in the marsh. The first 
year that he noticed them, he picked a couple of handsful of berries 
from them. The next year they had spread so that he gathered a 
quart. From year to year the patch has since enlarged, so that it 
‘now covers about an acre of ground. The persistence with which 
the vines encroached upon and routed out the tough marsh grass, 
afforded the surest evidence that the cranberry is ‘to the manor 
born.” At the time of our. visit the vines were loaded with berries, 
and as the picking was to commence on Monday, we shall proba- 
bly be able to report the yield in our next. A house has been pur- 
chased adjoining the marsh, and Mr. Lane has moved into it to be 
able to attend personally to the management of the patch. Last 
spring Mr. Russell experimented in extending the vines upon the 
marsh by planting. ‘The runners were cut up in lengths of from 
four to eight inches and pushed into the soft ground with the end 
of aboard. They have most of them rooted, and have made a 
growth this season of from four to ten inches, throwing out new 
roots like a strawberry runner. On some of them were cranher- 
ries. That the entire marsh can thus be brought under cultivation 
we have no doubt. 
Another method of propagating, and one that promises to be even 
more effective, has been tried by Mr. Russell on an acre of marsh 
lying north of Mr. Kenney’s place. In the spring, when about six 
inches of the surface of the marsh had thawed, while the mud be- 
neath remained frozen so as it would bear the weight of a team, Mr. 
Russell, using a plow with a sharp coulter, turned over the tough 
marsh sward in smooth furrows. Where the furrows lapped, cranberry 
cuttings were introduced at intervals of about a foot. These have 
made a nice growth during the season, and having no grass to con- 
tend with, will undoubtedly cover the ground in a short time. 
So far as we know, Mr. Russell is the pioneer in cranberry culti- 
vation in Minnesota. He has corresponded extensively with cul- 
tivators in Wisconsin and New Jersey, and obtained valuable 
information as to the habits of the cranberry plant. It has but one 
insect enemy, a worm that sometimes causes serious loss. To 
counteract this, flowage in the spring is necessary. ‘The marsh of 
Messrs. Russell, Shaw, and Lane is well situated in this respect, as 
by raising a dam two feet high at the outlet of the marsh, the entire 
tract can be flooded. Another drawback upon cranberry cultiva- 
tion, which cannot be averted except as early ripening is hastened 
by cultivation, is premature frosts. As to the profit of cranberries, 
there can be little question. Fifty bushels to the acre are a poor 
crop, while as many as five hundred bushels have been gathered. 
At from $2.50 to $3 a bushel, this is likely to pay a pretty good 
interest, and if cranberry growing is profitable at the East, where 
from $300 to $500 per acre are expended in grading and covering 
the ground with sand, which is considered indispensable, we don’t 
see why it shouldn’t pay pretty well here in Minnesota, where so 
liitle especial preparation is necessary. 
