No. 4.] CRANBERRY CULTURE. 367 



lands, the work of constructino; the bo"' should be com- 

 menccd, beginning on the side where the outlet of the water 

 is, and working back towards the point from whicli the 

 water supply is to come. The first work should be the con- 

 struction of a dam high enough to flood the bog at least three 

 feet in depth, and the gateway should be so constructed that 

 the water can be easily drawn entirely off, or raised to any 

 depth desired. At the upper end, where the water enters the 

 main ditch, a dam should be built for a reservoir large 

 enoui>;h to contain water sufficient to flood the bog whenever 

 desired. 



In constructing the bog, if it be covered with grass, the 

 sod should be entirely removed and carried oft'. But if it 

 be covered with trees or bushes, the trees, before being cut, 

 should be pulled over so as to more easily remove the roots 

 by using the trunk of the tree for leverage. The roots of 

 the larger trees Avill not grow below the top of the peat, 

 which has for many years been below the water-level. This, 

 as a rule, will 1^ from six to nine inches below the surface 

 on bogs that have never been drained for cultivation. The 

 brush and roots should be piled up in large windrows to dry, 

 and on the top of these should be shoveled the leaf mould, 

 which is above the peat ; thus leaving the surface perfectly 

 level. When the roots and soil are dry enough, which will 

 be in a few weeks, they should be burned up and the ashes 

 saved for fertilizing other parts of the farm. 



Ditches should be dug eighteen inches deep, eighteen 

 inches wide at the bottom, and thirty inches at the top. 

 These ditches should be seventy-five feet apart, running at 

 right angles with the centre ditch and from it to the border 

 ditch. 



In constructing the bog, care should be taken to keep the 

 surface at a water level. This can be easily done by 

 keeping back water enough so as to have a few inches in the 

 bottom of the ditches. When the ditches are all dug, and 

 the brush, stumps and surface soil all disposed of by fire or 

 removed to the high land, the bog is ready to sand. If it be 

 a small one, wheelbarrows may be used to remove the sand, 

 but if it be large, a hand car run on movable rails can be 

 u-sed with more economy. The sand should be free from 



