SMALL FRUIT CROPS 209 



like nature improve the yield and quality of the fruit. Gener- 

 ally, after the second crop has been gathered, it is best to plow up 

 the plants and set out a new bed. For market purposes, the 

 strawberries are packed in small baskets and placed in crates for 

 shipment. 



The cranberry is a native of both Europe and America. In 

 this country, cranberries grow in boggy lands, from Maine south- 

 ward to New Jersey, and also in the swamp lands of Michigan, 

 Minnesota, and Wisconsin. It is estimated that 90 per cent of 

 our cranberry crop is grown in Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and New 

 Jersey. The small cranberries found in the market are gener- 

 ally the product of vines growing in a wild state, while the large 

 berries come from the cultivated plants. 



The plants may be grown from seed, but usually they are grown 

 from cuttings, set out a little over a foot apart in rows. In a 

 little while the vines spread over the whole space. The plant 

 has small evergreen leaves, somewhat whitish underneath, and 

 early in the summer it bears flowers with a pale rose corolla, 

 deeply parted. In the fall the berries gradually assume a pale 

 red hue and mature. They are then gathered by hand or ma- 

 chinery and packed in barrels or crates and shipped. 



The cranberry farm, like the rice farm, gives the best results 

 when it is situated so that it may be flooded at certain times of 

 the year, as the needs of the plant may demand. 



Huckleberries. Huckleberries are not cultivated for commer- 

 cial purposes, but are picked from plants growing in the wild 

 state. In Maine it is estimated that there are no less than one 

 hundred and fifty thousand acres which produce the blue-fruited 

 variety of huckleberries. These are frequently termed " blue- 

 berries," on account of their rich, blue color, while the term 

 " huckleberries " is usually applied only to the black-fruited 

 varieties. 



Mulberries differ largely from the classes of berries just de- 

 scribed in that they grow on trees. The trees grow from fifteen 

 to fifty feet in height according to the variety, and bear heart- 

 shaped or ovate leaves. The white mulberry is found in the 

 Eastern States, and the Russian mulberry is a form of it. The 

 black mulberry is found growing in protected places in New Eng- 



PRAC. AGRICUL. 14 



