BLUEBERRIES AND CRANBERRIES 417 



cranberry plantations, or "bogs," as they are called in Massa- 

 chusetts, are made. In their wild state these bogs look unprom- 

 ising enough, being choked with bushes and brakes. It has 

 required considerable courage to attack and subdue them. I am 

 filled with a constant wonder that the sandy plains are not also 

 utilized for the cultivation of blueberries. These fruits now 

 grow in abundance over large areas, and they are gathered for 

 market. It would only be necessary to enclose the areas, protect 

 them from fire, and remove the miscellaneous vegetation, to have 

 a civilized blueberry farm. Certainly cranberry and blueberry 

 farms should make an interesting and profitable combination. 

 The expense of growing the blueberries would be exceedingly 

 slight, and the crop would be off before cranberry picking 

 begins. With greater attention given to the crop, we should no 

 doubt soon find out why it is that the berries fail in certain years, 

 and it is possible that some control could be exercised. I have 

 often predicted that large areas of the great pine plains of 

 Michigan - which look much like the Massachusetts barrens 

 will eventually be used for the growing of blueberries. To be 

 sure, wild berries are yet common, but they would not interfere 

 with the sale of better and cleaner berries which should come 

 from civilized plantations. Wild cranberries are still abundant 

 over thousands of acres, and the production of cultivated berries 

 is rapidly increasing ; yet the price has advanced from 50 cents 

 and $1 per bushel, with an uncertain market, 50 years ago, to 

 15 and 20 cents a quart. Wild blackberries are still abundant, 

 yet they do not interfere with the sale of cultivated sorts. 



The largest cultivated bog in existence lies about six miles 

 north of Wareham, and is under the management of A. D. Make- 

 peace, one of the oldest and most experienced cranberry - growers 

 in the country. This bog is 160 acres in extent. Other bogs in 

 the vicinity belong to the same management. These bogs are all 

 as clean as the tidiest garden. The long and level stretches, like 

 a carpet strewn with white and crimson. beads, are a most pleasing 

 and novel sight. Here in early September a thousand pickers 

 camp about the swamps, some in temporary board cabins, but 

 most of them in tents. The manager furnishes the provisions, 

 which the campers cook for themselves, and he rents them the 

 tents. One hundred and twenty pickers constitute a "company," 



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