1889.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 127 



berries more leisurely and market them from the bog. So 

 we find it true that the cranberry on the Cape is, and will 

 probably continue to be, very profitable. There can be 

 little doubt of this. Then the question comes to us in the 

 interior of the State, Taking circumstances as they are, is it 

 a sufficiently remunerative crop for the extra hazardous 

 nature of the investment ? Given the necessary conditions 

 to success, I believe it may be made so, and should be 

 encouraged, not in expectation of enormous profits, but 

 anticipating fair returns for the money invested, unless 

 over-production should result in loss to all engaged in this 

 legitimate branch of agriculture. With the knowledge 

 brought to us from experience and careful scientific experi- 

 ment, we may reasonably hope that many obstacles to 

 present success in cranberry culture in the interior of our 

 State will be overcome. 



The Chairman. Gentlemen, you have heard this interest- 

 ing essay on cranberries on dry land. Mr. Stock well will 

 be pleased to answer any questions or take up any points, 

 and I should hope that the people from the Cape especially 

 would have" something to say. 



Mr. Ware of Marblehead. There is one point I do not 

 quite understand. I understood from the essayist the im- 

 portance of rich, strong and deep bogs ; and then that they 

 were to be covered with six inches of pure sand without any 

 soil. I want to inquire whether the cranberry's delicate 

 roots reach down through that six inches of sand and draw 

 their nourishment from the rich bog underneath ? The in- 

 ference I drew from the paper was that they did ; but I did not 

 suppose the roots of the cranberry-vine, being so delicate, 

 would reach to that depth for nourishment. 



Mr. Stockwell. I stated in the essay that the vine 

 should be cut in lengths of from seven to nine inches ; the 

 dibble placed upon the vine about two inches from the end 

 so as to carry it down through the sand to the loam below, 

 and from them come out the shoots and runners ; therefore, 

 you have roots at every one of these intersections below the 

 point where the cranberry-vine strikes the loam. The little 

 roots from the runners do not reach the loam. 



