mSTORY or CULTIVATIOX. 2] 



This price, however, is unusually high, and was caused 

 by a partial failure in the crop of that season ; it is only 

 mentioned to illustrate how highly the fruit is appreciated 

 where it is best known. 



Although the Cranberry is indigenous to many parts 

 of Xorth America, there are comparatively few localities 

 where it has been cultivated. The most important of 

 these are : Cape Cod, Mass., West New Jersey and Wis- 

 consin. Other New England States, New York, Michigan, 

 and Minnesota, have cultivated it more or less. 



The first attempts at the cultivation of the Cranberry 

 in this country, were made on Cape Cod, about the year . / 

 1820. The pioneer cultivators in that locality of course 

 were enabled to gain considerable experience and profi- 

 ciency in growing the crop long before any attention was 

 given to this branch of fruit culture in either New Jer- 

 sey or any of the Western States. 



S. B. Phinney says : " Half a century has now elapsed 

 since Captain Henry Hall, of Dennis, in the County of 

 Barnstable, Mass., commenced the cultivation of the cran- 

 berry. His bog, or 'cranberry yard,' as he called it, has 

 no year since failed of producing a remunerative crop. 

 For the next thirty years after Mr. Hall commenced, 

 many experiments were made by others, and most of them 

 proved to be failures. The general cultivation does not 

 date back further than the year 1850, yet since that date '^ 

 there have been many failures, and many bogs, recently 

 set, will never yield remunerative crops. By this term, 

 and by ' successful cultivation,' I mean that the crops, in- 

 cluding the present value of the bogs, have more than 

 repaid the original cost, interest, and incidental expenses 

 of cultivating, picking, and sending to market." 



It was not until about the year 1845 that the first vines - - 

 were planted in New Jersey ; and for several years the 

 history of the Cape Cod pioneers was repeated in the 

 numerous failures that foUciwed. Although the Jersey- 



