26 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 402 



an understanding of factors in cranberry production quite as reliably as those of 

 years seriatim with trend lines. 



Important cranberry weather relations in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and 

 Wisconsin, the states having the main cranberry growing regions of the world, 

 are discussed here. In Massachusetts all of the industry is in the eastern part of 

 the state and most of it in Plymouth, Barnstable, and Bristol counties^; in New 

 Jersey it is nearly all in the southern half, mostly in Burlington, Ocean, and 

 Atlantic counties'*; in Wisconsin it is spread widely in the central and north- 

 western parts of the state, Wood, Jackson, Monroe, Juneau, and Washburn being 

 the leading counties^. 



Much of the published material used in this study and some of the correspon- 

 dence has been deposited in the cranberry collection of the Middleboro (Massa- 

 chusetts) Public Library. A list is available. 



WINTER ICE 



In the Soil 



New cranberry plantings with the vines still in hills should be flowed for the 

 winter before the ground freezes much and should not be drained in the spring 

 till the danger of considerable soil freezing is past, for heaving of the soil b}' freez- 

 ing and thawing throws new sets out. Vines lifted in this way must be put back 

 into place with the heel promptly in the spring. 



Some bogs, usually those close to ponds, do not hold the winter flowage well 

 because of seepage. This difficulty is sometimes best met by letting the soil and 

 surroundings of the bog freeze considerably before flooding and then putting the 

 water on in a cold spell that promises to continue. 



Ice remaining in the bog soil after removal of the winter flood, as often happens 

 in Wisconsin (page 31), keeps the vines above it completely dormant till after it 

 is melted. Wisconsin growers prevent this with a shallow flood to "draw out the 

 frost." This is effective, for the water warms fast under their brilliant sun. 



On Bog Flowage 



The thickness of the ice on the winter flood of cranberry bogs varies greatly in 

 the different cranberry-growing regions and from year to year. There is not 

 enough on Cape Cod for ice sanding in more than a third of the winters in a long 

 term of years, but the flowage freezes down to and even into the soil somewhat on 

 many bogs in cold winters. There is plenty of ice for sanding nearly every year in 

 Middlesex, Norfolk, and Bristol counties, it sometimes being nearly two feet 

 thick in Middlesex County. Only in occasional winters can ice sanding be done 

 in New Jersey, but eleven inches of ice sometimes forms over the bogs there. 

 Ice enough for sanding seldom fails to form in Wisconsin. In cold, open winters 

 the flowage freezes entirely down to and into the soil, the frost going well below 

 the root-zone of all the cranberry vines.^ The flood on Wisconsin bogs is hardly 

 anywhere over three feet deep and is much shallower than that on most of the 

 acreage. The snow coverage largely governs the depth of freezing. 



Cranberry vines frozen in thick ice are often pulled and injured badly when 

 water lifts the ice considerably. For this reason the flowage must be kept near 



^Bulletins 332 and 371, Mass. Agr. Expt. Sta. 

 ^Circular 232, N. J. Dept. Agr. 

 ^Bulletin 96, Wis. Dept. Agr. 



^With a foot and a half of water over a bog, the frost goes down three to four feet in the soil in 

 severe winters with little snow. (H. F. Bain.) 



