No. 7. 



Cranhernes. — Open and Under Draining. 



205 



cut off and immediately burned, as soon as 

 the existence of the disease is discovered. 

 Thaddeus Wm. Harris. 

 I am, dear sir, yours very truly, 

 Cambridge, Mass., Jan. 7, 1848. 



Cranberries. 



The experiment of Capt. Winthrop Low 

 of Essex, is one of great interest. It esta- 

 blishes the fact, so far as it can be done in 

 one year, that cranberries may be raised in 

 perfection, upon a dry upland soil, without 

 artificial watering or the use of loam. The 

 soil selected by Capt. Low was, most of it a 

 sandy loam. It was perfect Indian corn 

 land. The soil is porous, and would not re- 

 lain water even if the ground were level. 

 But it must be remembered, that in no part 

 of the field can the water stand so as to keep 

 the roots saturated any considerable time to- 

 gether. A small rill of water indeed passes 

 through the field, but confined to a width not 

 exceeding five feet, and usually not more 

 than one foot. 



As evidence of the completely upland na- 

 ture of the soil, it may be stated that a row 

 of white beans was planted between every 

 two of cranberry vines, and although it has 

 not been a good year for white beans, Capt. 

 Low has harvested nine bushels from the 

 one hundred and twenty rods, a fact, show- 

 ing also, that the land is not lost to the cul- 

 tivator even the first year, indeed that the 

 bean crop has defrayed a large part of the 

 expense. 



The cranberry vines had put out runners 

 in many cases from three to four feet long, 

 and have all the marks and numbers of health 

 and vigour. Sand was applied to about one 

 half of the hills, but without any apparent 

 advantage whatever. The attention of the 

 committee was called particularly to this 

 fact, because the experiments in Barnstable 

 county seem to have been all made with 

 sand, and it is there thought and declared to 

 be indispensable. 



There was no artificial watering. The 

 cranberry sods were taken up, as appears by 

 the statement below, on the 15th of May, 

 and set out on the 16th, 18th and 19th. 

 There was in that month (May) but two and 

 seven-eights inches of rain. It could not 

 have been the presence of water then, that 

 caused every root without a single failure 

 to live, and nearly every one to produce ber- 

 ries. 



It should be borne in mind, however, by 

 way of caution, that there has been more 

 wet weather during the last six months, than 

 the average of tiie previous four years, or 

 indeed any of them. The whole quantity 



during the months of May, June, July, Au- 

 gust, September and October last, is 25 3-4 

 inches; while during the same months in 

 1846, there was but 15 7-8 inches ; though 

 in 1845 the quantity was as great as this 

 year, wanting 2 1-2 mches. 



It should be recollected too, that this is the 

 first year, and what the effect of the winter 

 will be without the indispensable presence of 

 water, as the Yarmouth Register would say, 

 remains to be seen. At present the vines 

 flourish like a green bay tree, and this, per- 

 haps, is enough for the committee to say. 

 The fact that the roots could be taken drip- 

 ping from their native meadow bed, on the 

 15th day of May, put into a cornfield soil, 

 and then with nothing but the rain of hea- 

 ven upon them, in five short months to take 

 root downward, and bear fruit upward, is 

 most extraordinary. — Mass. Ploughman. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet, 



Agricaltural Society of Newcastle County, 

 Del., Hares Corner, Exhibition Groand, 

 October 15th, 1847. 



To the Committee on Open and Under 

 Draining : 

 Gentlemen, — Draining is a subject of 

 great importance to the agriculturists of 

 this State, of which no notice has hitherto 

 been taken by this Society. There is no 

 State in the Union, except it may be Louisi- 

 ana, in which more draining has been done, 

 or where it has been attended with greater 

 success than in Delaware. A great portion 

 of the eastern, or Delaware front, of New- 

 castle county, from Naaman's Creek to Bom- 

 bayhook, was formerly marsh, which has 

 been reclaimed by embankments at great 

 cost. These embankments are in some in- 

 stances full twenty-four feet wide at the 

 base, and six to eight feet high, sloping from 

 the river side at least a foot and a half to one 

 foot in height, and about one foot to one and 

 a half on the land or inside; leaving the top 

 about four feet wide. The earth for the con- 

 struction of these embankments is generally 

 taken from the outside, from ditches or pits 

 cut perpendicular to the embankments — of 

 length and depth, so as to afford a sufficient 

 quantity of earth for that purpose. Great 

 precaution must be taken when first locating 

 these embankments, to set them sufficiently 

 back from the river, that the growing reed 

 may be a protection against the storms. 

 Where they are exposed to the beating surf, 

 they must be protected by heavy stone walls. 

 Sluices of masonry or wood, of a capacity to 

 vent all back water, should be constructed 

 previously to putting up the outside embank- 

 ments; and EG ought the leading drains or 



