234 SMALL FRUIT CULTURIST. 



ones. The seeds should be prepared and kept through 



the winter in the same manner as recommended for the 



Huckleberry in a suceeeding chapter. 



, Sow them in drills and keep free of weeds, either by 

 ' hoeing or mulching with saw-dust, or tan-bark, if grown 



on dry soils, but if on low grounds, use sand instead. 



Transplant into fruiting-beds when one or two years old. 



PREPARATION OF SOIL. 



Naturally, the common Cranberry is a semi-aquatic 

 plant, requiring a constant supply of water to ensure its 

 highest state of perfection. It is usually found in low peat 

 bogs, where it is often entirely submerged in the winter 

 months, and the roots are in contact with water during a 

 greater portion of the year. 



While this is the condition in which we usually find the 

 wild plants, yet, occasionally, they are found upon high and 

 dry soils. Judging, however, from the position in which 

 we find the greatest quantities, we conclude that a wet 

 soil is the most natural one. If we leave the normal con- 

 dition of the plant out of the question, and base our con- 

 clusions entirely upon the results of the many experiments 

 which have been made in the last thirty years, we find 

 that their cultivation in wet soils has been attended with 

 the best success and the most remunerative results. It is 

 not to be assumed that they cannot be grown upon soils 

 that are naturally dry, for we have many instances of suc- 

 cess under such circumstances, but, as a whole, the upland 

 cultivation has not been equally profitable with the low 

 land. It is not altogether for the purpose of supplying 

 the plants with moisture that abundance of water is re- 

 quired, but for other purposes, among which are the fol- 

 lowing : 



First. Covering the plants in winter, thereby affording 

 a protection from severe cold. 



