CRANBERRY GROWING 



a long-term rival in spite of its troubles with drouth and summer frosts; its 

 geographical location gives it an average freight advantage in the delivery of 

 fruit to the markets of the country as a whole; its Searls variety", partly because 

 of the large berries, is more productive than any other cranberry variety largely 

 grown; the crop there is harvested more completely and with less injury to the 

 vines than elsewhere by water-scooping.^ The alkalinity of many of the marshes 

 m parts of Wisconsin is probably a limiting factor there. 



Cranberries have been called a luxury, but they are no more so than any of our 

 other fruits. The market for them has kept pace with their production, and 

 prices for good fruit are usually satisfactory. The average season price per barrel 

 has ranged from $11.71 to $31.10 in the last several years. Some growers fear 

 the supply of cranberries may some- 

 time exceed the demand. This may 

 come to pass temporarily, but impor- 

 tant new uses are being found for this 

 fruit and the market for it is being 

 largely extended and stabilized by can- 

 ning. Moreover, the effective pro- 

 ilucing cranberry acreage of the coun- 

 try is hardly greater now than it was 

 twenty-five years ago. Good cran- 

 berry bogs will, therefore, be attrac- 

 tive investments for some time to 

 come. Though the cranberry acreage 

 of this State is not much greater than 

 formerly-, its production has increased 

 considerably, probably largely because 

 of reduction of losses by insects and 

 frosts. 



THE CRANBERRY PLANT 



The cranberry plant is a trailing vine 

 ivith many upright branches and roots 

 ilong it (Fig. 2). Both the runners and 

 the uprights have leaves, but only the 

 latter bear fruit. The leaves are ever- 

 green but turn brownish in winter. 

 The ^■ines make a mat all over the 

 -urface of a cultivated bog (Fig. 3 IB). 

 They blossom in late June and early 

 July, and the fruit ripens in September 

 and October. The flowers (Fig. 3) de- 

 pend mostly on insects for pollination; 

 and while wild bees are usually plenti- 

 ful, it probabl}- is good insurance to 

 keep bees for this purpose. The set of 

 fruit is not affected by night coolness 

 short of frost during bloom. 



5 Searls, also called Searls Jumbo, is the main Wisconsin variety (p. 27). Over a third of the 

 cranberry acreage of the State, however, is in unselected native vines. 



« Mass. .\gr. Expt. Sta. Bui. 293, 1933, p. 23. 

 Tne general experience of cranberry growers in the State of Washington, where sprinkling 

 systems have been used on the cranberry bogs everywhere in recent years, is that irrigation by 

 sprinkling on hot days helps greatly by preventing sun scalding of the berries and definitely im- 

 proves their storage qualities ID. J. Crowley). 



Fig.-3. 

 Cranberry Flower Buds and Flowers. 



