ESSEX SOCIETY. 39 



inches ; though in 1845 the quantity was as great as this year, 

 wanting 2 1-2 inches. 



It should be recollected, too, that this is the first year, and 

 what the effect of the winter will be without the indispensable 

 presence of water, as the Yarmouth Register would say, remains 

 to be seen. At present, the vines flourish like a green bay tree, 

 and this, perhaps, is enough for the committee to say. The fact, 

 that the roots could be taken dripping from their native meadow- 

 bed, on the 15th day of May, put into a corn-field soil, and then, 

 with nothing but the rain of heaven upon them, in five short 

 months to take root downward, and bear fruit upward, is most 

 extraordinary. A specimen of the fruit is with the committee, 

 and it appears to be as good as the uncultivated fruit of the 

 meadows. The quantity, as will be seen by the statement be- 

 low, is one bushel and thirteen quarts. The land was carefully 

 measured, by the undersigned, and found to contain 120 rods. 

 It ought to be added here, that the field exhibits a case of clean 

 culture ; weeds and grass have both yielded to the hoe. 



There is but one claimant for the society's premium, offered 

 for the best-conducted experiment in the culture of the cran- 

 berrry. 



The committee think that Mr. Low is fairly entitled to the 

 society's first premium of fifteen dollars. 



DAVID CHOATE, Chairman. 



Winthrop Low's Statement. 



I offer for premium three quarters of an acre of land, set with 

 cranberry vines. The soil is of a sandy loam. In November, 

 1846, it was ploughed. One half of the whole quantity was 

 turf-ground, the other half had been planted with corn in drills 

 for two years. May 17, 1847, I furrowed the ground with a 

 horse-plough in drills, five feet apart one way, two furrows to 

 each drill. On the turf part of the ground, I found it necessary 

 to cut through the turf, in order to get a suitable depth for the 



