186 THE CRANBERRY. 



■water to overflow the plantation to such a depth that the "water 

 will not be frozen through to the ground during the winter. 

 The water should be allowed to remain until such time in the 

 spring, usually in May, as the weather becomes mild and vege- 

 tation commences, when it should be drawn off just to the tops 

 of the vines. This will give the plants the benefit of the in- 

 creased warmth of the weather, yet at the same time protect 

 them from frosts. The water can be allowed to remain at this 

 point until the season has become so far advanced that the dan- 

 ger from frosts is past, and then it should be drawn off entirely. 

 The necessity for this arises from the extreme sensitiveness of 

 the blossoms, and the same is true of the unripe fruit, to frosts. 

 If it be possible to have a reservoir of water retained by a dam 

 ahove the beds, with which to flood the plantation at will, the 

 water may be drawn off earlier in the spring, and a longer sea- 

 son be thereby secured than would be safe without such an 

 arrangement ; for if a frosty night threatened after the water 

 had been drawn off, the plants could be again covered with water 

 from the reservoir, and thus kept safe from the frost. Again, in 

 autumn the unripe fruit could be protected from premature frosts, 

 and sometimes the entire crop preserved, by letting on the water 

 whenever danger of frost was apprehended at night, and draw- 

 ing it off in the morning. In this way also the plants may be 

 protected from the ravages of insects. It is liable to attacks 

 from two kinds of worms ; one of these destroys the vines, the 

 other the fruit. By submerging the vines for a few days, as 

 soon as these begin to appear, they will be drowned out and the 

 plantation preserved. 



Planting the Cranberry can be best done in the latter part of 

 May or the beginning of June. The roots are placed in the soil, 

 the vine spread out and covered so as to leave only the tips of 

 the branches out. Set in this way each branch wiU form a 

 plant. The closer they can be set the sooner they will cover 

 the ground. The Cranberry will also grow from cuttings. Some 

 planters run the vines through a straw-cutter set to cut them in 



