No. 7. 



Cultivation of the Cranberry. 



225 



From the Dollar Farmer. 

 Cultivation of the Cranberry. 



We have no experience ourselves in the 

 cultivation of the cranberry, nor have we 

 ever seen a field artificially made, but that 

 they may be profitably cultivated, is beyond 

 a doubt, as the experiment has been made ; 

 and we find a few facts in relation to the 

 subject, in the New England Farmer, copied 

 fi-om t!ie Barnstable Journal, whicli we re- 

 publish for the benefit of our readers: 



The Barnstable Journal states, that Cap- 

 tain Henry Hall, of Barnstable, has for the 

 last twenty years, cultivated cranberries. 

 He has now about an acre of ground under 

 cultivation. For the last ten years, he has 

 raised an average of 70 bushels, and in some 

 favourable seasons, 100 bushels. 



Sandy bog-land, is the soil best adapted to 

 their growth, and it should be kept well 

 drained. 



Captain Hall has a tract of about four 

 acres enclosed, which he calls his "cran- 

 berry yard," of a damp sandy soil, surface 

 nearly level, and, where not planted with 

 cranberries, covered with rushes and swamp 

 brush. The cranberry vines were set around 

 on the borders of the "yard," some on land 

 elevated two or three feet above the general 

 level of the surface. The vines grow most 

 vigorously, and the berries are of a better 

 quality and more abundant where the soil is 

 most sandy and damp. 



In very dry seasons, the cranberries are 

 liable to be eaten and destroyed by worms; 

 but in general, are, under skilful manage- 

 ment, as certain a crop as any kind of grain 

 or garden vegetable. 



The manner of transplanting is simple. 

 Holes are dug four feet apart, made deeper 

 than for corn ; into each of these, sods of 

 vines are placed. The cranberry has creep- 

 ing roots, spread very rapidly, and in three 

 years from the time of planting, will en- 

 tirely cover the ground. If the land is 

 overgrown with bushes, they must first be 

 removed ; but it is not necessary to destroy 

 rushes, for the cranberry vines will do that 

 in a few years. 



When the land is very low or covered 

 with a thick growth of weeds and rushes. 

 Captain Hall practices spreading over it a 

 quantity of beach sand before planting. No 

 other cultivation is performed or required, 

 than to keep the land drained, and cattle 

 from injuring the vines. The cranberries 

 sell from i^l to $1 .50 per bushel, and the 

 cost for picking is 20 cents per bushel. 



Mr. F. A. Hayden, of Lincoln, gathered 

 from his farm in that town, in 1830, four 



hundred bushels of cranberries, which he 

 sold for six hundred dollars in the city of 

 Boston. 



The editor of the Genesee Farmer, makes 

 the following comments upon the above arti- 

 cle, as published in the New England Farmer. 



If we go to raising cranberries, where 

 shall we find a market] This is a very 

 natural question, but it is easily answered : 

 Go whore Mr. Hayden went, if you are not 

 suited with the New York market. Cran- 

 berries, unlike most other kinds of small 

 fruits, are capable of being transported to 

 Europe, without suffering by the voyage, and 

 we have seen American cranberries selling 

 in London at eight dollars per bushel, as 

 fresh as when gathered from the marshes. 



We suppose that the best way to propa- 

 gate the cranberry, where there are no plants 

 to be conveniently obtained, would be by seed. 

 The best mode to do this would suggest itself 

 to any common cultivator, after having been 

 informed of the proper soil to grow them in. 

 We should try the experiment by sowing 

 the seed in drills, about 15 inches apart, in 

 autumn, and when grown, transplant them 

 to the place where wanted.' 



We have ourselves, paid $12 per barrel, 

 for cranberries, for a friend to ship to Lon- 

 don ; this was in a season of scarcity. 



The failure of a crop is sometimes occa- 

 sioned by a frost in the beginning of June. 

 We have never noticed any other cause of 

 failure. 



The berries are gathered with an instru- 

 ment called a cranberry rake, which scoops 

 them off the vines, and when the operation 

 is well and carefully performed, but few are 

 left behind. 



We have frequently been inquired of, if the Cran- 

 berry, Oiycoccus macrocarpus, could be .propagated 

 from the seed. Although we have no practical know- 

 ledge on the subject, we freely subscribe to the opinion 

 expressed above, in a paragraph near the close. Sir 

 Joseph Banks introduced this plant into England, 

 about the year 17G0, and we presume it was done from 

 the seed. — Ed. 



The Gardener's Almanac, for 1844, says 

 that in 1837, £2.54,000 worth of bones were 

 imported into England, and the quantity is 

 annually increasing. Of woollen rags, from 

 1836 to 1842, 7,059 tons, 6 cwt. 13 lbs., or 

 about 1,191 tons annually, were imported. 

 These are chiefly used by hop growers, but 

 are excellent as a general manure. Between 

 25,000 and 30,000 tons of guano, are said to 

 have been imported down to Christmas, 1842. 

 And "Mr. Fothergill," says the Almanac, 

 " thinks about 5,000 tons more, will have 

 been imported during the year 1843." 



