1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



493 



A swamp may be chosen. If you find the vine 

 growing; round the edges of a bog, you may safely 

 conclude that the plant can there be advantageous- 

 ly cultivated. In the preparation of these loca- 

 tions, there is often much labor and some expense. 

 But this depends upon its surface, what you have 

 to do in removing the turf and "filling in." It is 

 customary with some growers to redeem a certain 

 proportion of their swamps yearly ; by thus pro- 

 ceeding, they ultimately overcome the natural ob- 

 stacles before them, and accomplish what they in- 

 tended to realize. The sight of each year's pro- 

 gress encourages them to persevering effort. Then 

 it must be so that you can drain off the water at 

 your own pleasure. If you make a cranberry 

 patch in a swamp, and it is liable to have wafer 

 standing in pools over the vines in the summer 

 season, this will operate as a hindrance to the ri- 

 pening of the berry. This precaution must be ob- 

 served in making choice of such a situation, that 

 you can expel or draw off the water, when it is 

 necessary. 



Meadow land, which is low and mois^, affords an 

 excellent location for the cranberry. In fact, these 

 damp situations are very suitable, providing the 

 dampness or moisture is not too cold and icy. If 

 the moisture beneath the surface in which the vine 

 is planted is of too cold a temperature, it will 

 prove fatal to the young vines. Care must be had, 

 in selecting for a yard, to ascertain if the water is 

 too cold ; if it is not, it may by converted into a 

 useful and profitable cranberry patch. There must 

 be water in the land in which they are planted. 

 Asa general rule, it is best to have it within twelve 

 inches of the surface. The object of this is to 

 give moisture. The grower must have it, or his 

 plants will fail. 



A gradual slope is often to be met with, coming 

 down to the edge of a pond. When such inclines 

 are properly prepared and planted, they make the 

 best of yards ; and such locations generally have a 

 soil in which the vine will do excellently ; and 

 there is not so much trouble with them, as the 

 gravel chokes the weeds. 



SOILS AND MODE OF PREPARING THEM. 



Beach savd stands the first. All other kinds 

 must be rejected if this can be got. Experience 

 teaches us this. Those yards which are wholly 

 bottomed by beach savd flourish and yield abun- 

 dantly, far better than those that have a different 

 soil. During the past fifteen years every variety 

 of soil and situation have been experimented with, 

 and the results are in favor of the beach sand. 



There is another reason, though, which should 

 not be lost sight of, why this sand is so much bet- 

 ter than any other soil. It is light, porous, and is 

 almost incapable of supporting weeds. It admits 

 the atmosphere freely to the roots of the vine, and 

 is found to be the only soil in which the rank weeds 

 can he effectually kept down. It will thus be cleai' 

 to the reader, that in such a situation, the plant 

 can throw out its runners in every direction, and 

 having no weed to contend against, will therefore 

 spread rapidly, and soon become matted, a condi- 

 tion of the yard towards which the practical man 

 looks with anxiety. If you are about to make the 

 attempt to cultivate the cranberry, if possible, ob- 

 tain beach sand in which to set out your vines; or 

 coarse sand when the former cannot be obtained, 

 but the white is preferred. 



Peat is found to be excellent, next in value and 

 importance to the beach sand, for the growth of 

 cranberries. But peat wants management and care 

 in its preparation, in order to be made useful to the 

 vine. In selecting a peat swamp to be converted 

 into a cranberry patch, it is necessary to take off 

 the top turf, or grass, and if possible give the yard 

 a little incline. When this is done, it is unsafe to 

 plant at once. If you do so, you will find that the 

 peat will in the following summer cake and crack. 

 It will be hard on the surface, and some few inches 

 below stiff" and dry. The veriest tyro in cranberry 

 cultivation knows that such a condition is very bad 

 for the vine. 



How is this difficulty obviated 7 Prepare the 

 surface as we have stated above, and leave the yard 

 exposed to the frost and weather for one year. 

 When the frost is thawed out of it, it will crumble 

 and be powdery. It will never cake afterward. 

 It will be light imd porous. You may then with 

 safety plant your vines, and with moderate atten- 

 tion they will do well. 



TIME OF SELECTION — HEALTHY VINES— THEIR AP- 

 PEARANCE—UNHEALTHY VINES — SIGNS OF. 



We will now state a method of selecting your 

 vines, which cannot fail of assuring you of their 

 real qualities. 



We af-:sume that you contemplate making a 

 Cranberry Patch, that you have not on your own 

 farm any vines, consequently you will have to go 

 abroad for them. 



1. Ascertain who has the vines to dispose of. 

 If you are in a position to find several, all the bet- 

 ter. Assuring yourself that vines are for sale by 

 the individuals whom you have found, before you 

 buy take this precaution. 



2. When the fruit is nearly ripe, go to those 

 yards or patches in which the vine is for sale. See 

 how they bear. If they bear well, or give a yield 

 which is equal to the average of the vines of that 

 year, you may buy. You will be certain that those 

 plants are not diseased. You may then let them 

 remain in the patch until you are ready to trans- 

 plant, with this satisfaction, that you have obtained 

 a good article. 



3. Or, if you have confidence in the person with 

 whom you deal, you can purchase as well in the 

 winter as at any other period of the year ; for the 

 grower knows well which vines are good, and which 

 bad, in what part of his yard grows the fine Cape 

 Cod Bell Cranberry, and every other variety. 



These suggestions may be safely followed by the 

 inexperienced in reference to cranberry culture, 

 and lead to the most favorable results, as they will 

 prevent deception, a consideration of some impor- 

 tance in an undertaking of this description. 



[Note. — The healthy vine, by some cultivators, 

 is stated to be of medium thickness, or strength 

 of spear, and bushy leaves. All the barren vines 

 which we have examined are stouter than the yield- 

 ing ones.] 



CRANBERRY PATCH — HOW TO MAKE — WHEN TO 

 MAKE. 



In the foregoing chapters of this manual, loca- 

 tions and soils best adapted to develop the cran- 

 berry vine have been pointed out ; it may not be 

 unadvisable now to describe the different methods 

 of making a patch. 



1. On some farms, locations and soils are all 



