32 



BULLETIN OF 



Massachusetts Board of Agriculture. 



CRANBERRY CULTURE IN SOUTH-EASTERN 

 MASSACHUSETTS. 



By John Burslet, West Barnstable, Mass., Member of State Board of Agricidture. 



The cultivation of the cranberry was quite general in Barnstable 

 County from 1850 to 1865. In the year 1850 Edward Thacher of 

 Yarmouth submitted the management of one and one-half acres of 

 land, set by him to the cranberry in 1846, for the premium offered 

 by the Barnstable County Agricultural Society for the cultivation 

 of the berry. From 1865 to 1875, or during the years following 

 our civil war, the planting of the berry was largely increased, the 

 high prices then received for the fruit harving stimulated this in- 

 crease of acreage. 



While a large portion of the area then cultivated still continues 

 to yield profitable returns, there are large tracts which, on account 

 of their not being naturally adapted to the fruit and because of the 

 poor management of their owners, have been allowed to return to 

 their original condition, namely, swampy, marshy quagmires, 

 bearing only coarse, water-loving grasses, bushes and briers. 

 Under favorable conditions and good business management the 

 crop continues a very profitable one, even at prices of the present 

 season, five dollars per barrel at cape shipping points. 



From 1875 to 1885 acres of bogs previously unproductive in 

 Plymouth and Bristol counties were reclaimed and planted to the 

 berry. Many of these tracts are of quite large areas, and are 

 largely managed by some of the men who began the growing of the 

 fruit in Barnstable County. The reclaiming of these large swamps, 

 (which were totally unproductive and in many instances almost a 

 menace to health) , making them some of the most productive lands 

 of the section, is surely evidence of good farming, and those who 



