ee ern ahh ica ta tain ain Saba Ll Ue hin eal ee i eat g I, 
“ 
VEGETABLES. 361 
CRANBERRY CULTURE.—(A TALK.) 
A. D, LEACH, EXCELSIOR. 
Mr. Leach: Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen: Cranberry cul- 
ture is something of a hobby with me. I live up near Lake Minne- 
tonka, and I have a cranberry marsh there. There area great many 
marshes in that vicinity that used to be very productive, but they 
have been neglected, and cattle have been permitted to run over 
them a good many years, and they are run down, and the majority 
of them are not worthanything. About fifteen years ago,I boughta 
piece of land near Lake Minnetonka, on the shores of Lake Minne- 
washta. The land contained a small cranberry marsh, about two 
acres, and I determined to see if that marsh could not be reclaimed. 
My object in speaking on this subject here tonight is to seeifI 
cannot encourage other people who have cranberry marshes in the 
vicinity where I live and in other parts of the state to improve those 
marshes, for it is a fact that mine has paid me better than any other 
part of my farm. This year I obtained more clear profit from the 
two acres of cranberry marsh than I received from all other sources 
of income from my farm, including my small fruits and vines. I 
know there are hundreds of acres within a radius of three miles of 
my place that are just as good cranberry marshes as mine. The 
simple thing that has ruined these marshes is that people have 
neglected them and have allowed cattle to run over them, conse- 
quently they are no good, and it seems almost impossible to make 
them believe that they are of any value. 
I fenced my marsh about fifteen years ago, about the time I 
bought the land; I ran a fence around the marsh, and then I con- 
cluded to burnit over. The first year I did not get anything from 
it, but the second year I picked nearly a hundred bushels of cran- 
berries from the two acres, and the third year I picked about half 
as many; the fourth year I gota full crop, and for seven years the 
marsh paid me at least $100 per acre net profit. In 1890, it had parti- 
ally run down again. It had become filled with an underbrush of 
birch, and the grass had grown up around that until it was not do- 
ing very well, but still it paid me better than any other part of my 
farm. I burned it over again, and it burned very hard, in fact, it 
burned the vines all up. It was so severely burned that for two 
years I did not get any crop. The third year I gota fair crop, and 
this past year from the two acres we picked 150 bushels. Atthe 
prices for which we sold those cranberries we made a net profit of 
$260 from the two acres. My object in calling this matter up before 
the horticultural society is that this society might encourage those 
who own marshes to develop them, and such men would soon rea- 
lize that a one acre cranberry marsh was of more real practical 
value than any other ten acres of land they had in their farms. 
DISCUSSION. 
_Mr. Brown: How do you start the cranberry marshes? 
Mr. Leach: I do not know. We have cranberry marshes 
all over the state, but I do not know how they are pro- 
pagated. 
