122 [Senatk 



The Cranberry- 



This cTelicious fruit is coming into such general use, and is becom- 

 ing so important an article of export, and so rauch interest is now 

 taken in its cultivation, that I propose giving, a concise account of 

 the same, and its general history. 



The common American cranberry {oxycoccus macrocarpus,) is 

 found growing in a wild state in swampy soils, in the eastern, middle 

 and western Slates, The first account we have of the cultivation of 

 this fruit, is by the late Sir Joseph Banks, who, in 1813, produced 

 from a bed eighteen feet square, three and one-half Winchester 

 bushels; being at the rate of 460 bushels to the acre. Capt. Henry 

 Hall, of Barnstable, Mass., has cultivated this fruit for the last twenty 

 years. His method is, to spread on his swampy ground a quantity 

 of sand — this is to kill the grass; but where sand is not at hand, 

 gravel will answer the same purpose. He then digs holes four feet 

 apart each way, and puts in the holes sods of cranberry-plants about 

 one foot square. 



As this plant naturally grows in a very wet soil, it is generally 

 supposed it will not thrive in a dry soil ; but this idea is erroneous, 

 Mr. Sullivan Bates, of Billingham, Mass., has cultivated the cran- 

 berry on a dry soil for several years with the utmost success — having 

 produced three hundred bushels to the acre on several acres, and his 

 fruit double the usual size. His method is, to plough the land, spread 

 on a quantity of swamp muck, and after harrowing the soil thoroughly 

 set out the plants in drills twenty inches apart ; hoeing them the first 

 season. After this, no cultivation is needed. By both the above 

 methods, the plants will cover the ground in three years. 



From my own knowledge of the cranberry for the last thirty years, 

 should I design commencing the cultivation of this fruit on an exten- 

 sive scale, I would try it on both swampy and dry soils. I would 

 drain the swampy soil, plough it as early as possible in the spring, 

 and set out the plants on the plan of Mr. Bates. 



To show the rapidity with which cranberry plants increase, I will 

 add this statement, from an English book on fruits. An English 

 gentleman had only a few plants, these he cut in small pieces or cut- 

 tings, and set them out in a green-house. In the spring, he prepared 

 some swampy ground by spading it twelve inches deep. In a bed 

 150 feet long, and four feet wide, he set out seventy-five cuttings in 

 one drill through the length of the bed, putting the cuttings two 

 feet apart m the drill, and yet in three years the plants completely 

 covered the ground. 



In Massachusetts, the cranberry crop is once in a few years cut off 

 by the late spring frosts. This may be prevented where a meadow 

 is so situated as to be flowed. The water should not be over one or 

 two inches deep on the cranberries, nor be left on later than the last 

 of May in this climate. If kept on until it becomes warm it will 

 kill the vines. Perhaps the best management would be something 

 as they flood the rice fields at the south, or water meadows in Eng- 

 land — let the water on while the weather is coldest, and then take it 



