290 



Cultivation of the Cranberry. 



Vol. IX. 



Every possible effort is made to secure an 

 impartial decision among the competitors; 

 for, besides that they are not suffered by 

 their presence to influence the examiners, 

 the examiners themselves are selected from 

 among: persons who are as far as possible 

 disinterested, and not likely to be influenced. 

 They are chosen, likewise, with a special 

 reference, in their characters and qualifica- 

 tions, to the nature of the subjects submitted ; 

 and every pains is taken in this way to se- 

 cure the greatest aptness and talents. The 

 name of the competitor is not given where it 

 can be avoided, but only the number of the 

 article presented. The rules of admission 

 and competition are stringent and absolute, 

 and no exceptions are, on any account, al- 

 lowed. When, last year, a competitor at- 

 tempted to introduce a machine out of sea- 

 son, or in some vvay contrary to the published 

 rules, and wrote to one of the agents of the 

 society, that, if a silver key should be found 

 necessary to its introduction, he begged him 

 to use it, — this attempt at bribery was re- 

 jected with proper indignation by the society, 

 and the individual concerned, though emi- 

 nent as a machinist and manufacturer, and 

 offering every apology for his " indiscre- 

 tion," was forever irrevocably excluded as a 

 competitor for any of the premiums of the 

 society. 



The society likewise offers premiums for 

 essays, which are deemed deserving of such 

 reward, upon any given subjects, and for 

 reports on the agricultural condition and 

 habits of different counties and districts. 

 This has been the means of bringing out 

 many valuable papers. Here, too, the deci- 

 sion is sought to be rendered as fair as possi- 

 ble ; for the name of the writer is not given 

 with i\\Q essay, but under a separate and 

 sealed envelope, which is not opened until 

 the successful essay is announced ; and then 

 the seal is broken, artd the writer's name 

 declared, in the presence of the society. 



The society likewise has a consulting 

 chemist, a consulting engineer, a botanist, 

 and a professor of the veterinary art, of 

 whose services, in any desirable case, it 

 avails itself Some time since it numbered 

 on its lists more than 6,.500 members ; and 

 has been, since that time, steadily on the 

 increase. It is impossible to overrate the 



advantages which such a society brings with 

 it to the agricultural community; for, though 

 it enrols among its members many gentle- 

 men who are mere amateurs in the profes- 

 sion, and take little interest, and have little 

 knowledge of its practical details, yet, on 

 the other hand, it combines, among the high- 

 est men in the kingdom, a very large amount 

 of practical talent and skill — men of the most 

 accurate observation, who carefully enter 

 into the, whole subject. There is another 

 great and good influence which it powerfully 

 exerts, and which must not be overlooked. 

 It gives a high respectability to the agricul- 

 tural profession, and presents it as a pursuit, 

 not, as has been too often said, for mere dolts 

 and clod-hoppers, but for minds of the highest 

 order, and for men of all conditions, from the 

 prince to the peasant ; for " the king himself 

 is served by the field." The prizes are con- 

 tended for with an ardour little short of ihat 

 which displays itself in the contests of politi- 

 cal life, and received with a high sense of 

 their value. I have seen, at the tables of 

 some of the highest noblemen in the land, 

 the premiums of agricultural success, exhi- 

 bited in some form of plate, with more tri- 

 umph than they would display in the brilliant 

 badges of their rank. — Colmaii's Agricultu- 

 ral Tour. 



ment in breeding stock, the Judges, in making their 

 award, are instructed not to take into their considera- 

 tion the present value to the butcher of animals exhi- 

 bited, but to decide according to their relative merits 

 for the purpose of breeding." 



" In the class for horses^ the Judges, in awarding the 

 prizes, are instructed, in addition to symmetry, to lake 

 activity and strength into their consideration." 



Cultivation of the Cranberry. 



A good many enquiries have been made in relation 

 to this subject, and the following is taken from the 

 Boston Cultivator. The conversation occurred at an 

 Agricultural meeting in Boston, in the early part of 

 3d month last.— Ed. 



Mr. Buckminster said, that Albert Ware, 

 of Sherburne, had raised 200 bushels of 

 Cranberries to the acre. 



Mr. Gleason observed, that when there 

 were no floods in the spring on the Concord 

 river, the plants come forward early, and are 

 liable to be killed by frosts while in blossom. 

 Cattle biting off buds in the spring are very 

 destructive. He has a plat of cranberries, on 

 high land, that have rooted out the grass. 

 The land would produce corn, barley, and 

 potatoes. They were never killed in the 

 winter. 



Mr. Earle, of Worcester, said, when a boy 

 he crossed a meadow wherp fine cranberries 

 grew on high land, on the side of a hill; the 

 soil was strong and moist. 



The Chairman remarked that low lands 

 were much exposed to frosts. He stated a 

 case where a meadow produced good crops 

 of cranberries till it was ditched; then it 

 failed. 



Mr. Allen said that he had known frost 

 every month in the year ; and cranberries 

 were liable to be killed if they were flowed. 



