136 HOW TO GET A FAKM, 



bore freely, and ripened their fruit well. He Lad 

 purchased the land in April, and that fall he sold 

 $600 worth of fruit, netting $440. The following 

 year was less productive, in consequence of a heavy 

 frost when the plants were in bloom. But the third 

 year paid better than the first. In the mean time 

 he had enlarged his plantation by extending his 

 brush fence around other portions of the tract, and 

 at this writing is clearing an average of $1100 an 

 nually from about thirty acres. 



In the sections of New Jersey referred to, there 

 are numberless places whereon similar operations 

 may be carried out. Some of them have been al 

 ready redeemed from their native wildness by a 

 very moderate expenditure, and converted into the 

 most lucrative investments. Once established, these 

 cranberry swamps rarely fail. Now and then a frost 

 may injure the crop, or the worm may wholly de 

 stroy it ; but on the average of five years, there is 

 probably no investment that can be made to pay 

 better. A cranberry swamp, well set with vines, 

 and conveniently located, is a cheaper purchase at 

 $50 per acre than a quarter section of government 

 land as a gift. If so located as to be easily flooded, 

 the crop may be considered sure. 



For a beginner it possesses rare advantages. Gen 

 erally it will take care of itself, requiring little labor 

 or attention, except when the crop comes in. For 

 at least ten months of the year he may employ most 

 of his time in working out for others, or in cultivat 

 ing other land for the production of food for his 

 family. The crop is among the most marketable of 



