18 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



rangement, :is tliey can move about, and stand at| CULTIVATION OF CRANBERRIES. 



ease; and by standing on the manure which is The Barnstable Patriot gives a full account of tl>o 

 moist and soft to their feet, they are much less lia- sixth annual meeting of the Barnstable County Ag- 

 bl3 to injuries in t!ie feet than horses that stand on ricultural Society, on the 16th ult. We select the 

 hard floors. By this arrangement a horse may eat 

 from a trough by the barn floor, so as to breathe 



following report: — 



fi-eely of pure air. But with this plan, it isneces 

 sary to level the manure frequently where the horse 



This statement of Mr. Edward Thatcher, of Yar- 

 mouth, was made to the committee on fruit. 



The following is a statement of the course pur- 

 sued by me in the cultivation of the cranbeny. Ju- 



Btands to eat, else it will accumulate under his hind, ly 12, 1845, I purchased, for $40, one and a half 



feet and give him an uneasy position. 



Horses should be curried and brushed down daily. 

 This is as necessary as it is for a person to wash 

 his face and hands daily. It is not only necessary 

 to comfort, but to permanent health. 



Horses should have a good supply of pure water. 

 Fanners often consult their own convenience in 

 supplying this, to the serious injury of their horses. 

 The animal comes home rather late in the evening. 



acres of land — about one-half a sandy beach, and 

 the remainder a low peat meadow covered with 

 water. A rim of about six feet in width, around 

 the bog and between the water and the beach, had 

 a few cranberry vines on it, which had been close- 

 ly fed off. In the spring of 184G, 1 drained the bog 

 and covered about one-eighth of an acre with sand 

 three inches thick, and set it with cranberry vines 

 in rows two feet apart, and hoed them four times in 

 the season of 1846, and once in the spring of 1847. 

 The grass then got advantage of me, and left the 



warm, and perhaps sweaty, and in that condition [vines to work their own w-ay. They have now 

 he is supplied with cold water, as the hour for re- j nearly overcome and worked out the grass and 

 tirino- for the nio-ht is at hand, and to water the mshes. On the remainder of the bog I strewed 

 horse, as the saving is, after he has become cool,^|"es, ar^d trod them in the mud, by walkmg oyer 

 ,., .- ^ . rn -1 them. Ihese grew with rapidity witiiout any lur- 



would be very inconvenient. To avoid so great an ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^j^^g -^ ^^^ ^-^^^^ j,^ ^^^ j-^jj 



e\'il as giving cold water to a warm horse in win-jof i848, 1 gathered from ten rods, where no sand 

 ter when his labor is over, give him water when i had been spread, as many bushels of cranberries, 

 he is about to return, if convenient; if not, wait till j while on the part sanded I had scarcely as many 

 the horse has become cool, after returning home, ^'i^rts. The latter are now doing better, having 

 , , , . , .. ■ I got the advantage of the grass, and 1 think will 



and turn him to the water, or if more convenient ||^^^,jy ^^.,^^j, ^^ ^^^^^ j have this year, on the quar- 



carry some to the stable. If a little hot water canjter of an acre offered for premium, quite a good 

 be added to the cold, he may have drink without! crop, although the worms destroyed nearly one-half. 



waiting; or moistened food may be given to him, 

 so that water will not be so necessary. 



There is one thing in which many farmers are 

 negligent in the care of their horses. They feed 

 their whole stock early in the evening, and they do 

 not go to the barn again for the night. When the 

 horse has eaten his supper of dry fodder, he is very 

 tliirsty, but he has no drink, and suffers greatly for 

 want of it. The next morning his thirst has abat- 

 ed, by an equalization of moisture in the system, 

 and he has become hungry, and is looking for his 

 breakfast, so he will not drink frequently, in the 

 morning, though water is oflfered. It is but little 

 trouble to turn the horse to water, about nine 

 o'clock in the evening, and it should be attended to. 

 If the food be cut and moistened, as now practised 

 by many, it will be, in a great measure, a remedy 

 for the evil. 



When the horse is out keep him well covered, 

 while standing in the cold, especially after hard 

 driving, or when warm; and put a blanket on him 

 on being put into the stable when sweating. Never 

 wash a ht)rse's legs in cold water when he is warm, 

 not even in hot weather. Cold water may be used 

 for inflammations, but only when the horse is still 

 and cool. 



American Axes are so much superior to the 

 British that they are sent to Liverpool, and sold in 

 competition with the English manufacturer. 



I have picked one square rod of the light-colored 

 variety, set in the mud, and it yielded two bushels 

 and twelve quarts. One square rod of the small, 

 dark-colored variety, on the mud, yielded one bush- 

 el and two quarts. The laige red variety yielded 

 on the mud two bushels to the square rod. The 

 whole quarter is not yet gathered; it will yield 

 about thirty-five bushels, about one-half of the vines 

 being set on mud and one-half on sand. 



In selecting meadow for cranberries, it is highly 

 necessary to select such as will not dry in summer; 

 but much also depends on the selection of the vines, 

 as the committee will see by the samples here pre- 

 sented, all having the same soil and the same treat- 

 ment. The samples are not selected, bvt sent in pre- 

 cisely as they grew. The whole expense on the 

 above bog up to the present time does not exceed 

 $40. 



I have received from the sales of cranberries, up 



to the fall of 1849, 



Deducting for, picking one 

 fourth 



All other expenses for set- 

 ting, interest, &c., 



Net profit, 



$320 00 



80 00 

 40 00 



120 00 



200 00 

 Edward Thatcher. 

 Yarmouth Port, Oct. 15, 1850. 



We know not why it is that .so little attention is 

 paid to the cranberry in this county. In the east- 

 ern part of the State it is considered a valuable crop, 

 and one raised without difficulty. There is a great 

 abundance of land in almost all our towns, and 

 especially all those bordering on the Housic or 



