BARNSTABLE SOCIETY. 349 



no fruit can be made to yield a better reward, and its cultivation 

 may be successfully undertaken, by persons of the most limited 

 means. The committee have awarded 



To Russell Hinckley, of Barnstable, the first premium, 

 for experiments in the cultivation of cranberries, on 

 not less than a quarter of an acre of ground, . ,^5 00 



To Ezekiel Thacher, of Barnstable, the second pre- 

 mium, do., . . . . . . 3 00 



GEORGE MAR ST ON, Chairman. 



Russell Hinckleifs Statement. 



The quarter of an acre of cranberry meadow, I have entered 

 for premium, was, previous to the autumn of 1843, used as a 

 pasture, and produced nothing but a coarse kind of grass, and 

 a few natural cranberry vines. In the autumn of that year, I 

 enclosed the piece by a ditch, three feet in width and depth, 

 which answered the purpose of a fence. I then covered the 

 same with beach sand, to the depth of six inches, which I con- 

 sidered sufficient to kill the grass. In the following spring, I 

 set the same with cranberry vines, obtained from Sandy Neck, 

 (so called.) In about three years from the time of setting, the 

 vines covered the ground, and bore a few cranberries. They 

 have continued to increase, and this year I have picked from 

 them, twelve bushels of excellent cranberries, a specimen of 

 which I present herewith. From one rod of the above piece, 

 I picked one bushel and one-half of cranberries. The expense 

 of sanding, I estimate at twenty-five dollars. 



Barnstable, October 17, 1849. 



Fruit Trees. 



There appears to have been, among the farmers of this 

 county, many discouraging circumstances in the cultivation of 

 fruit trees. Their efforts have been crowned with so little 



