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By 



CHESTER E. CROSS 

 Head of the Cranberry Station, East Wareham 



/?? t]\'is Jtisl xveed nrtic 

 task of liand-jnilUng ti 

 seded by modern metlio 



EIGHTEEN HUNDRED weeds 

 to a square foot! Multiply 

 this by 43,560, the number ot 

 square feet in an acre, and even 

 Hercules ^vould have balked at the 

 task of pidling weeds by hand on 

 our cranberry bogs. Yet, as recent 

 as twenty years ago, this hopeless 

 procedure and mowing were the 

 only methods employed in ridding 

 the bogs of weeds. 



Kerosene — An Effective Killer 



Today, cranberry growers rarely 

 pull any grass on their bogs. A 

 year's work of time-consuming hand 

 labor has been replaced by a million 

 gallons of kerosene, an effective 

 weed killer but harmless to the 

 cranberry plants. 



The vines can tolerate very heavy 

 sprayings of kerosene oil, at least in 

 their dormant condition, but the 

 weeds cannot. The leaves of such 

 cranberry weeds as the grasses, 

 sedges, and rushes are so constructed 

 that the kerosene spreads to the 

 base of the leaves where the oil 

 lodges and kills the tissues. 



Spraying Not Expensive 



If, therefore, a grassy bog is 

 sprayed with kerosene at the rate 

 of 300 to 400 gallons to an acre, all 

 the Aveed tops die and no measur- 

 able injury occurs to the cranberry 

 vines. If 800 to 1000 gallons of 

 kerosene are sprayed to an acre, the 

 weed roots as well as the -weed tops 

 will die. 



It is possilile with a spray costing 

 less than ^\5() an acre to treat a bog 

 so o\'ergrfjwn with weeds that no 

 cranberry vines are visible. Such a 

 spraying will insure the bogs from 

 all grassy weeds the following sea- 

 son and, with proper care, for many 

 more seasons. 



Control Difficult 



In several ^vays, Aveed control in 

 cranberries is more difficult than in 

 other crops. First, cranberry vines 

 are perennial and evergreen. As 

 they grow, they cover the whole sur- 

 face of the bog, usually with 200 to 

 (lOO leafy stems a square foot. Once 

 the vines are planted and fully 

 grown, the ground is never again 

 jiloAved or harroAved, and, if well 

 cared for, will produce annually for 

 90 years or more. 



It is easy to see, then, how weeds 

 can l)ecome established with heavy 

 and sometimes \ery extensive root 

 systems. Moreover, in order to re- 



Kerosene, at the rate of 5000 to 7000 gallons 

 cf^ ° day, Is sprayed on cranberry bogs direct 

 from tank trucks. 



Photo h[i J. RicJiard Bcnttie 



