1889.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 129 



ing region, and am somewhat interested in the cranberry 

 business. We consider the Early Bhick the best, for several 

 reasons. They l)ring a better price, they are ripe about two 

 weeks earlier than the lighter colored berry, and so escape 

 the frost to a great extent. They are not quite as large, 

 but they are more solid. Open one of those early black 

 berries and you will find it a full, solid berry. Open those 

 light colored berries, larger in size, and you will find they 

 are very open, very hollow. They do not make as much jelly 

 or cranberry sauce as the darker berry. I like to see a 

 good dark red in cranberry sauce. 



It is not absolutely necessary' to be able to flow the bogs 

 at any time. I presume nine-tenths of our bogs on the Cape 

 have no facilities for flowing in the summer season. We can 

 let the water on in the fall, and keep it on as late as we like, 

 but we can not replace it except we have a shower, and that 

 does not come when we have frosts. In regard to making a 

 bog, I will admit that in the interior the plan of the essayist 

 will be proper. I will go further. I think it would pay to 

 bog that piece ; take otf every particle of the turf so as to 

 get the roots out of the way entirely. They are persistent 

 in coming through, unless you put on six inches of sand ; and 

 then they will come through occasionally. The idea of put- 

 ting on so much sand is merely to keep out the foul stufl". 

 Our best cranberry growers have a very large income. We 

 tax the bogs when they are first made at about $1.50 an 

 acre. Then as they come into bearing our assessors cause 

 the growers to make their returns every year of the number 

 of barrels taken off of those bogs, and they are taxed accord- 

 ing to their product ; and I think they are pretty well taxed. 



Mr. Sessions. Will you state about how higli a valua- 

 tion they attain? 



Mr. Edson. Well, we value them up as high as one 

 thousand dollars an acre when they produce a full crop. 

 The best crop we ever had was nearly two barrels to the rod. 

 If we get a barrel to the rod, or one hundred barrels to the 

 acre, we consider it a very good crop. In making a bog, I 

 would advise any one, even in the interior, to take oflf every 

 particle of roots and grass and rushes that are there. It is 

 something of a job, but if you will take that trouble it will 



