130 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



pay in the end. What is taken up will make a very good 

 absorbent to put in your cow-yard, and you get partly paid 

 for the expense in that way. Then, instead of putting on 

 six inches of sand, I would put on only three. The cran- 

 berry does take its nourishment from the peat below the 

 sand, there is no doubt about it, and the cranberry root does 

 not want to go six inches down. They do not do as well in 

 six inches of sand as in three ; it costs much more to put on 

 six inches of sand than three. Our cranberry king says if 

 your bog is likely to be weedy, put on four or five inches of 

 sand ; if you are clear of all the turf and weeds, he does 

 not want over three inches. I am talking only of the Cape. 

 You want your bog very level. We ditch in sections about 

 five rods wide, making a ditch about eighteen inches wide, 

 and deep enough to carry off all the water. We want to 

 keep the ditch nearly full, within about five inches of the 

 top, and if the sections are more than five rods wide, the 

 center of your section will not do as well as that which is 

 nearer the water. When we get on our three inches of sand, 

 we work it perfectly straight both ways, and at the inter- 

 section of the lines set the vines. We want the runners 

 from two to three feet in length. We take a dibble, and 

 one of those long vines, and place it about four inches from 

 the center of the cross. Run them clear down into the mud 

 below, so they will go two or three inches into the mud. 

 It will branch or sprout readily. We s'et them around in 

 what they call flower-pot style in that section. We find that 

 plan of setting does the best. Women do that work a great 

 deal, and do it very nicely. It is good clean work, and they 

 like it, and make good wages, and we can always get them. 

 We have tried raking in the vines. They will start and grow, 

 but you cannot weed them. The first year they need hoe- 

 ing three times, because no matter how clean your sand and 

 gravel, it is astonishing to see what will grow. Clover and 

 weeds will come right out of the gravel, and you will be kept 

 pretty busy keeping them down. They seem to start from 

 the sand, and when you get the bog made, there is a good 

 deal of trouble in keeping it clean. You have to go over it 

 three times a year for the first two years. If you allow the 

 grass to get the start you may as well give it up, and bog it 



