SMALL FRUIT CULTURE. 611 



frost will throw out the newly planted vines. There are various 

 methods of planting. The first is the old method of sod planting, 

 that is, the planting of a sod with grass, weeds, vines and all 

 This is a very poor method. Another and much better method 

 is to separate the vines from the sod and plant them in drills or 

 hills, a half dozen spears in a place, with the tips just above the 

 ground. They should be firmly pressed in. Where the vines 

 can be obtained in large quantities they can be cut about two 

 inches long by a common hay cutter, sown oi^the surface, and 

 well harrowed in ; or they may be sown in drills two feet apart. 

 All these operations must be performed in spring and early 

 summer, unless the ground can be plowed. 



Care should be taken to get fruitful plants, as many that ap- 

 pear vigorous are barren. The better way is to carefully ex- 

 amine the beds from which the plants are to be taken at the fruit- 

 ing time, and observe what portion bears the be.'5t crop. 



After Culture. Where the plants are in hills or iu .trills 

 they can be hoed the first season, after which they will cover 

 the whole ground and mat together so that hoeing will be im- 

 possible. If the weeds and grass are kept down the first year, 

 all that will be necessary in after years will be to go over the 

 patch two or three times during the growing season and pull up 

 the large tufts of grass, briers and weeds, by hand. Nothing 

 else but the cranberry will grow very luxuriantly .in clear sand, 

 and if the top has been taken off the marsh as recommended 

 but few weeds or grasses will appear which cannot be eradicated 

 by the first season's warfare, and the vines will soon take pos- 

 session of the whole. 



Flooding, as we have hinted, is the great aid to cranberry 



culture. The power to flood or drain at will insures most 



profitable returns. With an embankment and a water gate at 



the outlet this may be accomplished. Flood before the ground 

 37 



