No. 4.] CRANBERRY CULTURE. 389 



CRANBERRY CULTURE IN SOUTH-EASTERN MASSA- 

 CHUSETTS. 



BY JOHN BUUSEEY, WEST BARNSTABLE, MASS. 



The cultivation of the cranberry was quite general in 

 Barnstable County from 1850 to 1865. In the year 1850 

 Edward Thacher of Yarmouth submitted the management 

 of one and one-half acres of land, set by him to the cran- 

 berry in 1846, for the premium offered by the Barnstable 

 County Agricultural Society for the cultivation of the 

 berry. From 1865 to 1875, or during the years following 

 our civil war, the planting of the berry was largely in- 

 creased, the high prices then received for the fruit having 

 stimulated this increase of acreage. 



While a large portion of the area then cultivated still 

 continues to yield profitable returns, there are large tracts 

 which, on account of their not being naturally adapted to 

 the fruit, and because of the poor management of their 

 owners, have been allowed to return to their original con- 

 dition, namely, swampy, marshy quagmires, bearing only 

 coarse, water-loving grasses, bushes and briers. Under 

 favorable conditions and good business management the crop 

 continues a very profitable one, even at prices of the present 

 season, — $5 per barrel at Cape shipping points. 



From 1875 to 1885, acres of bogs previously unproductive 

 in Plymouth and Bristol counties were reclaimed and planted 

 to the berry. Many of these tracts arc of quite large areas, 

 and are largely managed by some of the men who began the 

 growing of the fruit in Barnstable County. The reclaiming 

 of these large swamps (which were totally unproductive, 

 and in many instances almost a menace to health) , making 

 them some of the most productive lands of the section, is 

 surely evidence of good farming, and those who have care- 



