526 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. * 
into the ground with a spade-like tool placed on the vine, about one- 
fourth the distance from the root to the top. The roots of the vine 
should be pressed into close proximity to the muck below, that they 
may be stimulated to grow more rapidly. 5th. Spreading the vines 
evenly over the surface of the meadow, and then covering them about 
an inch deep with sand, has succeeded well in New Jersey. The young 
shoots come up through the sand as thick as wheat, making an excellent 
growth, and the whole surface is soon matted with them. This mode 
requires more vine than the others, but yields a crop sooner than by 
planting in any other way. 6th. Sowing by cuttings can be done success- 
fully, the vines being passed through a straw-cutter, and chopped into 
pieces about an inch long; they are then sown like oats upon an evenly- 
prepared surface, and harrowed in. This must be done early in the 
spring, and upon moist ground, so that the cuttings will become well 
rooted before the heat of summer. 7th. Attempts have been made to 
grow them from the seed; but, owing to the longer time required for the 
vines to become productive, and the increased expense of keeping them 
clean, this system has been abandoned for general culture. * 
Great care should be taken in selecting the vines to procure those 
which yield large berries. The shape of the fruit is of little conse- 
quence, the great desideratum being to obtain berries of good size and 
eolor. Until the vines are well matted, itis important to keep the meadow 
thoroughly drained atleast one foot below the surface. It will.generally 
be found necessary to go deeper than that to effect a thorough drainage, 
without which the vines will not thrive, even if planted on ground well 
adapted to their growth. If the meadowis allowed to remain very wet, 
the vines will make little or no growth. When properly drained, a good 
meadow will become maited in three years, although some of the most 
permanent plantations have required a longer time to come into fall 
bearing, owing to the dampness of the soil. 
There are several insect enemies, however, that the cranberry grower 
has to combat. Tor the extirpation of most of them water is probably 
the most efficient agent. In the climate about Cape Cod it is recom- 
mended to flow the bogs once or twice between the 10th of May and the 
10th of June, say for a day or two, thatis, if the water has been drawn off 
early in the spring. If the water has been kept on till the 1st of June, 
itis well to flow two or three times during the month. The common 
blue-bird is a great destroyer of small caterpillars and worms, and it is 
hoped that the European house-sparrow, now becoming so generally 
domesticated, may prove an efficient auxiliary in destroying the several 
kinds of worms that prey on this fruit. 
Mr. White concludes his book, the results of several years’ experience, 
with directions for picking, keeping, and preparing the fruit for market. 
The home demand is so great that very few are left for exportation. 
Should there ever be a surplus, an active demand for them always exists 
in Europe and the West Indies. The requisites for establishing a eran- 
berry plantation, as gathered from Mr. White’s book, may be summed 
up as follows: 1. A sub soil or bottom of peat, or peaty matter. 2. No 
cold spring, but a head of water, so that the bog may be quickly flowed 
at all times, to protect it from the ravages of insects. 3. The turf or 
top soil of roots, grass, &c., must be removed down to the peat. ‘This 
top soil will make a good material for compost on high land. 4. Ditches 
must be made so that the water can be drained to at least a foot below 
the surface during the growing season; especially the cold water from 
the borders must be drawn off. 5. The surface of the peat, after the 
soil is removed, must be covered three to twelve inches deep, according 
