132 THREE ACRES AND LIBERTY 



usual custom is for owners of land on which there are cran- 

 berry bogs to let out the bog to pickers on a percentage 

 basis. Cranberries can be cultivated, and there is a con- 

 siderable profit in the business. The swampy nature of 

 the ground needed, however, will deter all except the most 

 persistent from this industry. Some cranberry bogs bring 

 as high as a thousand dollars an acre. 



The blueberry or huckleberry, or, as we call it in Ire- 

 land, the bilberry, or frohen, grows wild in the northerly 

 states, and is much sought after in the market. Many 

 efforts have been made to grow the blueberry commercially ; 

 but, as is well said by Mr. J. H. Hale in the Rural New Yorker, 

 " The blueberry proved to be a good deal like Indians it 

 would not stand civilization, and was never satisfactory, 

 although I monkeyed with it for a period of about ten 

 years." Mr. Fred W. Card, of Rhode Island, in the same 

 issue reports a similar experience. With our present knowl- 

 edge of the blueberry, it is doubtful if it can be made a 

 commercially cultivated crop. Lately, however, it is claimed 

 that it can be grown in very poor, non-nitrogenous soil. 



A variety, however, called the Garden Blueberry, gives 

 almost incredible yields, five bushels being reported from 

 sixty plants. It keeps all winter on the branches, if stored 

 in a cellar, and is of fine flavor and especially good for pre- 

 serves. A little frost improves it. 



But wild berries, crab apples, and elderberries and others, 

 are good to preserve and find a ready sale if attractively 

 put up; they also help out the table greatly. Then think 

 of the fun I 



In recent years, certain varieties of nuts, like the English 

 walnut, the pecan, and the hickory nuts have been grown 

 commercially. In the South particularly, the pecan has 



