SECRETARY'S REPORT. 95 



THE CULTURE OF THE CRANBERRY. 



The Committee on the Cultivation of Cranberries, consisting 

 of Messrs. Phiimey, Cleaveland and Thompson, failed to report 

 during the session of the Board, owing to the ilhicss and 

 necessary absence of the chairman. Major Phiuncy subse- 

 quently forwarded the following paper on the subject: 



I have personally examined a considerable number of bogs, 

 and have been a cultivator of the cranberry since the spring of 

 1856 — yet I do not rely so much upon the facts and information 

 which my own experience has given me, as upon the statements 

 and collection of reliable data which has been furnished me by 

 Amos Otis, Esq., of Yarmouth, Mass., who likewise acknowl- 

 edges himself largely indebted to Prof. Agassiz, of Harvard 

 University, for whatever of success has attended his investigation 

 of this important subject. 



Haifa century has now elapsed since Capt. Henry Hall of 

 Dennis, in the county of Barnstable, commenced the cultivation 

 of the cranberry. His bog, or " cranberry yard," as ho called 

 it, has no year since, failed of producing a remunerative crop. 

 For the thirty years next after Mr. Hall commenced, many 

 experiments were made by others, and most of them proved to 

 be failures. But these failures had their use ; they prevented 

 others from falling into like ei'rors. The general cultivation 

 does not date back farther than the year 1850, yet since that 

 date there have been many failures, and many bogs recently set 

 will never yield remunerative crops. By this term, and by 

 " successful cultivation," I mean that the crops, including the 

 present value of the bogs, have more than repaid the original 

 cost, interest and incidental expenses of cultivating, picking 

 and sending to market. 



On the bog of Mr. Hall every fact necessary to be known 

 might have been learned ; yet the information to be derived 

 from his experiments was not often souglit or regarded. Al- 

 most every beginner had a theory of his own, not based on his, 

 own or tiie experience of others, and the result was, that nine 

 out of every ten who made such experiments, failed of success. 



During the last fifteen years cultivators have been more 

 discreet. Before expending much time or money, they exam- 

 ined other bogs, collected information from those who had had 



