35 



The entire cost of preparing a plantation, including clearing of 

 wood, ditching, levelling and sanding, should not exceed $1.25 or 

 $1.50 per square rod, or from $200 to $250 per acre. Contractors 

 accustomed to the work are usually to be found who will construct 

 the plantations for the prices above named. 



The setting of the vines, including the marking, can be done by 

 those proficient in the work for ten cents per rod. These prices 

 do not include cost of building dam or reservoir. 



The bogs must be kept clear from weeds and all grass growth, 

 hand weeding being depended upon for this purpose. The first 

 season two or three weedings will be sufiicient, unless it should be 

 excessively wet and the location springy. The second season the 

 vines should make a rapid growth, and twice weeding will probably 

 be all that is necessary. The third season they should bear some 

 fruit, though a full crop need not be expected until the fourth year. 

 The weeds, bushes, etc., will show more or less every season as 

 the plantation grows older, but, unless they are very troublesome, 

 need not be taken out until after the crop is harvested, when all 

 should be pulled, carried off and burned. If the grower has prac- 

 tised clean culture, he will still have the insects and elements to 

 contend with. 



The flooding previously alluded to is necessary during the winter 

 season that the plants may not be destroyed by freezing, as was 

 the case during the winter of 1900 and 1901, when large tracts that 

 were not flooded were so badly injured that they did not fruit at all 

 during the following season. Again, if one has a reservoir with 

 a good head of water for use at will, it is often advisable to flood 

 for a short time only, during the last part of May or first part of 

 June, to destroy the " fire worm." This insect, Rhopohota vacci- 

 niana, often known as the vine worm or blackhead, has been very 

 destructive in many sections of south-eastern Massachusetts. 

 Flooding for a few hours in the early part of the season, just as 

 the worms are hatching, has been quite satisfactory where plenty 

 of water was at hand, but as there are only a few plantations so 

 situated, insecticides and spraying have been resorted to. For 

 this purpose many growers from 1885 to 1890 used a strong solu- 

 tion of tobacco with quite good results, while others used Paris 

 green. At present, a solution known as arsenate of lead, pre- 

 pared from a formula furnished by Professor Fernald of the Hatch 

 Experiment Station, appears to be best of all. The spraying is 

 done with a large force pump set upon a barrel or tank, mounted 

 upon low, broad wheels, that it may be easily moved about the 

 bogs. A line of hose with spray nozzle is attached, and while two 

 men move the tank and work the pump a third directs the hose, 



