40 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 433 



The water of these streams is very hard: Willow Creek — pH 8.2-8.4, bound 

 CO2 80 p.p.m.; Fox River — pH 8.1-8.3, bound CO2 75 p. p.m. To one tracing 

 the history of the industry of this region, the conclusion appears inescapable 

 that the introduction of large amounts of alkaline water was, at least in large 

 part, the cause of the decline of the industry. All the individual holdings were 

 really parts of one large marsh near the town of Aurora. Production fell off first 

 in the region served by the first canal. Profitable production continued longest 

 in the regions more remote from this canal. 



Recent History of the Berlin Marsh 



It is certainly not revealing any confidential information to state that, during 

 the two decades ending in 1940, the one property kept in cultivation in the Ber- 

 lin area had not produced profitable crops. Beginning in 1942^, under new owner- 

 ship and management, the methods of handling the bog were changed in several 

 respects. Most conspicuous was the handling of the water. So far as possible 

 river water was excluded. The reservoir dikes were raised and flooding opera- 

 tions were conducted chiefly with water held in the reservoirs. To a very large 

 extent the water used in flooding the vines was pumped back into the reservoirs. 

 Readings made during the growing seasons of 1943 and 1944 showed that the pH 

 of the reservoir water averaged from 6.6 to 6.8 in contrast to pH 8.1 to 8,3 for 

 the Fox River. The bound CO2 content of the reserv'oir water was about half 

 that of the river water. Under these conditions very satisfactory crops were 

 produced in 1943 and 1944. Here again, there is no proof that the change in 

 water handling produced the changes in the crop, but the results are as recorded. 



The Effect of Alkaline Water on Cranberry Soils 



In general on Wisconsin cranberry properties, alkaline flooding water and the 

 less acid soils are found together; acid flooding water and more acid soils tend to 

 be found together. There are some exceptions, particularly on bogs only a few 

 years old. This inevitably raised the question, to what extent repeated flooding 

 with alkaline water might change the soil. 



Obviously, the quickest way to test this was to set up an experiment in a 

 greenhouse.^ Six samples of peat from Wisconsin bogs were chosen. Two were 

 froni bogs under construction on areas on which no cranberries had been grown; 

 two were from areas formerly cultivated but now being rebuilt; and two were 

 from old bogs. 



Two 2-gallon earthenware jars were filled with soil from each sample, and 

 cranberry vines were planted in the jars, which were then placed in a greenhouse. 

 For one year they were irrigated with water from Lake Mendota, Wisconsin, 

 which has a pH of 7.8 to 8.4 and an alkalinity expressed as bound CO2 of 70 to 

 74 p.p.m. In September 1942, they were moved to Urbana, Illinois, and irrigated 

 for the next year with water having a pH of 7.4 to 7.6 and an alkalinity expressed 

 as bound CO2 of 145 to 154 p.p.m. In all cases the pH was decidedly raised 

 and the amount of exchangeable calcium and magnesium was increased. The 

 changes which occurred in three representative samples are shown in Figure 1. 



''Stevens, N. E. Further observations on alkaline flooding waters in cranberry growing. Trans 

 vVis. Acad. Sci. 36 (1944):395-398. 1946. 



^Hull, H. H., and Stevens, N. E. Changes in pH and in base-exchange properties of cranberry 

 soils following the use of alkaline water. Soil Sci. 58:405-408. 1944. 



