18'J(i. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



23 



THE CRANBERRY. 



Bow It Is Planted and IJeared and Where 

 It I'^lourishcs. 



The cranlberry is native to cold, 

 mossy bogs, sncli ns lio on the santly 

 slopes of tlio Atlantic states and 

 about the upper ^i-eat lakes. Where 

 cold waters flow slowly through 

 sands bogs arise. By the growth of 

 ages a pond fills with vegetation and 

 becomes a peat bog, the lower vege- 

 tation decaying under water, form- 

 ing peat. From the tangle of laurel, 

 fern and sphagnum of the surface 

 the change is gradual through dense 

 masses of wnry stems of the true 

 peat lying 20 or 30 feet below. In 

 some of the bogs in southern New 

 Jersey forests are buried. The bog 

 sustains many hardy perennial 

 shrubs, often heathlike plants, with 

 a great quantity of whitish corallike 

 moss called sphagnum growing up- 

 ward from its decaying base. This 

 vegetation holds slow moving waters 

 like a sponge, and on its upper por- 

 tions the cranberry, which is a sort 

 of heather, flourishes in company 

 with sheep laurel, ferns, rushes and 

 saplings. The first step in cranberry 

 tillage is to shave off from two to 

 four feet of this surface. This proc- 

 ess, called turfing — it is strictly 

 unturfing — is followed by drainage. 

 Ditches are dug at intervals of about 

 five rods. A surface of sand is next 

 spread over the top. The white life- 

 less sand of the Massachusetts coast 

 seems best suited, and in this warm 

 bed the cuttings are stuck, some- 

 times at regular intervals, sometimes 

 sown broadcast and harrowed under. 



The first two years is a struggle 

 with weeds. By the third the cran- 

 berry gets ahead and keeps so. Aft- 

 er the third year it comes to bear- 

 ing. The plant is one of the beauti- 

 ful allies of the heathers — a wiry, 

 slender shrub, perennial and trail- 

 ing, but miscalled a vine. It contin- 

 ues to bear from 15 to 20 years and 

 oan be mowed for pruning. Culti- 



vation consists chiefly in protection 

 from the frosts and in dry seasons 

 in moistening the lower part of the 

 bed. This inclpdes a system of irri- 

 gating ponds, dikes, gates, etc., of no 

 small extent. In winter the bogs 

 are laid under two feet of water to 

 protect the vines from being winter 

 killed, and they become frozen lakes. 

 In spring they are drained off, but 

 there is anxiety until June 10 on ac- 

 count of the possibility of frost after 

 the buds are set. Small bogs can be 

 flooded soon enough to be protected 

 against sudden frost, but this is not 

 practicable on the large systems, 

 which depend on water several miles 

 distant. — Springfield (Mass.) Dnion. 



How They Made Up. 



He was a very nice looking young 

 man, but he aiJiDeared nervous, and 

 all the clerks in the ofQce looked at 

 him curiouslj' when he rushed in 

 and asked permission to use the tel- 

 ephone. ' ' I want to talk to my wife, ' ' 

 he explained, "and there is a tele- 

 phone in the drug store next door 

 tons, where she can talk to me." 

 He was told to help himself. He 

 went into the little glass apartment 

 and closed the door, but he was not 

 used to a telephone, being under the 

 impression that it was necessary to 

 shout into it at the top of his lungs, 

 and so the clerks heard the entire 

 conversation. 



"Hello! Is that Smith's drug 

 store? Well, this is Mr. Jones. 

 What? Mr. Jones ! J-o-n — Yes, 

 that's right, next door. Will you 

 call my wife to the telephone, please? 

 Yes, I'll hold my ear here." A long 

 pause, and then in a voice softly 

 modulated: "Is that you, dear? I 

 want to tell you how sorry — What? 

 I say, I want to tell you how — You 

 can't hear? Now, is this any better? 

 Hello, dear! No, nol Don't bring 

 the man to the 'phone. I'll try 

 again. I — want — to — tell — you — how 

 — sorry — I — am — for — being — cross 

 — to — you — this — morning. Yes. Do 



