14 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



ble in the material made by bees — and will keep for 

 years." Indeed ! honey by this new process, I pre- 

 sume, can be made to flow freely in streams to suit 

 all over the land, and "the rest of mankind,"_for 

 little or nothing. Every man who feels a partilce 

 of philanthropy welling up in his bosom, can have a 

 small or large — as to that matter — pond of it near 

 his premises for the use of his household and the 

 "stranger within his gates," to dip out of and satisfy 

 his hunger, or his taste for honey, "manufactured by 

 the new process," superior to that of the industrious 

 and humble little bee. Verily the day of humbug 

 is not yet, and what comes next — echo answers next. 

 That a "fool and his money is soon parted" is as 

 true now as in the day of the wise man. 



King Oak Hill, JVov., 1855. TiTYUS. 



CEANBERRY CULTURE. 



Many a sensible housewife has adopted the very 

 sensible opinion that preserves made sufficiently rich 

 to keep throughout the year, are but poorly adapted 

 to preserve the health of those who swallow them. 

 Cranberries, on the other hand, are fast gainmg in 

 public favor, as an article easily kept in its natural 

 state, quickly done up for an occasion, and afford- 

 ing an agreeable acid, not injurious but beneficial 

 to health. Hence, the increasing demand for them ; 

 and hence the probability that the price will not 

 fall in proportion, as the supply increases, but that 

 the consumption will keep pace with the supply, 

 and remunerating prices be maintained ; and hence 

 also, a reason for copying the following from the able 

 report of Charles L. Flint, Esq., Secretary of the 

 Mass. State Board of Agriculture. — JVash's Farmer. 



"The cranberry may be propagated from the 

 seed, or from cutting, or by transplanting. The 

 first crop obtained from planting the seed will, or- 

 dinarily, be a year or two later than that produced 

 by -wild plants transplanted. It is, therefore, found 

 to be more profitable to transplant, except in one 

 or two sections of the State, where the interest in 

 transplanting has been so ^reat that $10 a square 

 rod is not an uncommon price for plants, where the 

 ground is thickly covered. 



Where it is desired to propagate by slips, or cut- 

 tings, the usual practice is to gather a large quan- 

 tity of vines, and run them through a common hay- 

 cutter, until they are reduced to the length desired 

 — an inch or so — when they may be sown broadcast, 

 and harrowed in ; though it is considered best, on 

 some accounts, to sow in drills, and cover properly. 

 These slips very soon take root, starting from the 

 base of the leaves, and shooting up many rising 

 branches. 



In case of cranberries growing wild, it is a com- 

 mon and well known practice to flow or cover them 

 with water, during the winter and early spring. 

 This is very desirable, if the sitution is such as to 

 allow it, though it is not generally considered es- 

 sential by those who have been most successful. It 

 is often useful where there are facilities for flowing, 

 to let the water remain a few inches deep till the 

 spring is well advanced, (some think till the first of 

 May, or even later,) to retard the blossoming till 

 there is no danger from frosts. Facihties for flow- 

 ing are desirable in the cultivation of cranberries 

 nbo ; and if the plantation could be so arranged as 

 'o flow very quickly, it might be of essential ser- 

 'ce, occasionally, during the spring and autumn. 



As the cranberry, in its natural state, is more 

 frequently found growing in a low, wet swamp or 

 marsh, that kind of land is generally selected for its 

 cultivation. The mode of setting out the cranberry 

 in such a swamp, if we suppose it to be covered with 

 bushes and grass and surrounded by a sandy soil, 

 or in the immediate neighborhood of sand, would 

 be as follows : first, cut the bushes and pare off" the 

 surface turf to the depth of three or four inches, so 

 as to remove as far as possible, the roots of grasses 

 and bushes ; then level the whole, by filling in sand 

 to the depth of from two to fom- or five inches, ac- 

 cording to circumstances. It is desirable that the 

 surface of the sand should be raised but slightly 

 above the level of the water of the swamp, meadow, 

 or pond filled up, so that, by digging into the sand 

 with the hand or hoe, the water may be found with- 

 in two or three inches of the surface. 



The plants should be taken up with the spade, 

 square turfs of the thickness of two or three inches, 

 this being the depth to which the roots generally 

 descend. When the ground has been leveled and 

 prepared as directed above, it will be convenient to 

 draw straight hues and set the roots about eighteen 

 inches apart one way, and one foot the other, in 

 small clusters of about five or six together, the 

 grasses taken up with them m the turf having fii-st 

 been removed from them. The practice of some 

 has been to set the turf, thus taken up, into the 

 row without remo\dng the grass ; but the vines are 

 so tenacious of fife that there is Httle danger of 

 their dying, even if all their natural earth is removed 

 from then- roots, and those who have followed this 

 method, have generally less trouble in the suljse- 

 quent cultivation. 



Some prefer to set them in rows at a greater 

 distance apart, having the rows two and a half or 

 three feet, and the plants one foot in the rows. If 

 the sand is thick and loose, so as to make it im- 

 practicable to cultivate the vines and pull up the 

 weeds and grasses, on account of the danger of 

 starting the roots, the closer the plants are set the 

 better, since they will thus the sooner cover the 

 ground and get the advantage of the grasses. 

 Where it is intended to hoe the plants in such situ- 

 ations, a foot each way will ])robably be the most 

 convenient distance between the plants. 



There has been some difference of ojnnion as to 

 the use of peat or sand after the incipient gi-ubbing 

 and paring has been done ; but the weight of o])in- 

 ion seems to be in favor of the sand, not because 

 the cranberry will not grow equally as well in peat, 

 but because the grasses growing so abundantly in 

 peat, increase the labor of cultivation. A somewhat 

 similar mode of procedure is sometimes adopted in 

 the case of ordinary low meadows or swamps. If 

 the meadow is covered with bushes, tussocks, re- 

 move the former with the grubber, cut the tussocks 

 oS level with the surface, when the vines, being 

 taken from another part of the meadow or else- 

 where, are set by first striking the hoe into the soil 

 and raising it slightly, when the roots are inserted 

 and pressed down with the foot. 



Mr. Thomas H. Samson, of Plymouth, Mass., 

 removed the whortle bushes and alders, tussocks 

 and tops of the soil, and early in the sj^ring set 

 about one-fourth with cranberry Aines without any 

 dressing. He continued annually for three years to 

 set the same quantity, a part of which he covered 

 with a dressing of gravel and soil about an inch In 

 thickness, and a part with sand and gravel, and 



