CRANBERRIES. 251 



PLYMOUTH. 



From the Report of the Conunittee on Improvements. 



The premiums " for tlie greatest quantity of cultivated cran- 

 berry vines on not less than an acre of land, which shall be in 

 the most flourishing condition in September, 1853," were claim- 

 ed, severally, by Thomas H. Samson, of Pembroke, Austin J. 

 Roberts, of Lakeville, and Paul Hathaway, of Middleboro'. 



Mr. Samson having succeeded, with great labor, in clearing 

 the brush and larger wood from two pieces of low, moist swamp 

 land — a deep vegetable soil"; and having pared and removed 

 the turf and tussock stools from their surface, proceeded to set 

 his plants. This was done in different years, commencing in 

 the spring of 1846, and ending in the fall of 1852. It con- 

 sisted in placing small square sods containing them, cut from a 

 bog meadow, in holes dug for their reception, at short dis- 

 tances apart, and then drawing soil around in such manner as 

 to secure the sods, with their contents, in their new position. 

 This labor seems to have been performed without any view to 

 subjecting the plants to any subsequent course of culture, 

 which they appear not to have received. 



Of these two pieces of land, one exhibits the plants, more 

 especially, in different stages of their growth; some having 

 been recently set out, looking puny and feeble, and showing . 

 scarcely any runners ; others of older date, looking stronger, 

 with runners more numerously thrown out and extended. But 

 of tfte larger part of this, and that of all the other plat, the 

 vines cover the surface with a mass of net work, although they 

 do not constitute the exclusive growth, appearing in a most 

 healthy and highly vigorous state, and bearing — a spectacle 

 gratifying to any one to witness, but peculiarly gratifying, it 

 may be supposed, to the proprietor — a most luxuriant crop of 

 sound, bright and sparkling fruit. 



Actively engaged, as Mr. Roberts appears to have been, for 

 several years past, in adorning and improving his ample home, 

 stead, a work in which he has displayed much horticultural 

 taste and agricultural science and skill, he has yet found some 

 time to devote to the culture of the cranberry. The tract 



