390 



CRANBERRY 



CRANBERRY 



surface in the growing season. (2) Soil which retains 

 moisture through the summer, for Cranberries suffer 

 greatly in drought. (3) Sufficient water supply to en- 

 able it to be flooded. (4) A fairly level or even surface, 

 so that the flooding will be of approximately uniform 

 depth over the entire area. (5) Not over-liable to frosts. 

 Bogs which contain moss or sphagnum and which have 

 a peaty or mucky soil are usually chosen. If heath-like 

 shrubs grow naturally in the bog, the indications are all 

 the better. The presence of the Cassandra or Leather- 

 leaf is regarded as a good augury. Black ash, red 

 maple, swamp huckleberry, and white cedar swamps are 

 often very satisfactory. Old mill-ponds often give good 

 results. 



Before the Cranberries are planted, the bog must be 

 cleaned of trees, bushes, moss and roots. This may 

 be done by "turfing," which is the digging out of the 



flood in spring or fall, to kill insects or to protect 

 from frosts. The objects of flooding are as follows: (1) 

 to protect the plants from heaving in winter ; (2) to 

 avoid late spring and early fall frosts ; (3) to drown in- 

 sect?; (4) to protect from drought; (5) to guard against 

 fire. Unless serious contingencies arise, the bog is 

 flooded only in winter. A flooded bog looks like a lake 

 (Fig. 568). Good results are obtained now and then in 

 "dry" or upland bogs, which cannot be flooded; but such 

 bogs or meadows rarely give uniform results, and they 

 are less advised than formerly. 



There are three centers of Cranberry growing in North 

 America, Cape Cod peninsula, New Jersey, Wisconsin. 

 Each has methods peculiar to itself. It was in the Cape 

 Cod region that Cranberry culture began. The first at- 

 tempts were made early in this century. William Ken- 

 rick, writing in 1832 in this "Orchardist," says that 

 "Capt. Henry Hall, of Barnstable, has cultivated the 

 Cranberry twenty years;" "Mr. F. A. Hayden, of Lin- 

 coln, Mass., is stated to have gathered from his farm in 

 1830, 400 bushels of Cranberries, which brought him in 

 Boston market $600." In the second and subsequent edi- 

 tions, Kenricks makes the figure $400. It is not said 

 whether Mr. Hayden's berries were wild or cultivated. 

 At the present day, with all the increase in production, 



568. Cranberry-picking scene on a Cape Cod bog. 



In the upper corner is a bog in full flood (in winter). In the lower 

 is the flume or outlet dam. 



swamp growth, or by "drowning," which is deeply 

 flooding the place for a year. The method of preparing 

 the surface for receiving the plants varies in different 

 regions. Open ditches are run through the place in 

 sufficient number to carry off the surface water. They 

 are usually made 2 to 4 feet deep. If some water stands 

 in them during the summer, better results are expected. 

 These ditches usually feed into one main or central 

 ditch; and this main ditch is preferably the one which, 

 when dammed at its lower end, floods the bog by back- 

 ing up the water. Growers prefer, if possible, to divert 

 a living brook through the bog, or to straighten and 

 deepen one which may exist there ; but in the absence 

 of a brook, a reservoir 

 may be constructed above 

 the bog. Sufficient water 

 supply should be had to 

 cover the entire area from 

 December until April or 

 early May, to a depth of at 

 least one foot. The lower 

 places will have a deeper 

 covering, but 4 or 5 feet 

 in places usually does no 

 harm in the winter. It 

 569. Cranberry hand-picker, also may be necessary to 



prices are higher than those 

 received by Mr. Hayden. 

 In the third (1841) and subsequent editions, it is said 

 that "an acre of Cranberries in full bearing will produce 

 over 200 bushels ; and the fruit generally sells, in the 

 markets of Boston, for $1.50 per bushel, and much higher 

 than in former years." It was as late as 1850, however, 

 that Cranberry culture gained much prominence. It was 

 in 1856 that the first treatise appeared : B. Eastwood's 

 "Complete Manual for the Cultivation of the Cranberry." 

 About 1845, Cranberry culture began to establish itself 

 in New Jersey. 



In the Cape Cod region, the bogs are "turfed." The 

 surface covering is cut into small squares and hauled 

 off. The object is to obtain a uniform surface in order 

 that all plants may have equal opportunity. The bog is 

 then "sanded." Rather coarse, clean sand is spread over 

 the entire area to the depth of about 4 inches. In this 

 covering, the vines are planted. The sand keeps down 

 weeds and thereby lessens subsequent labor; it affords 

 a moisture-holding mulch for the muck ; it renders the 

 plantation easier to be worked in wet weather, and it pre- 

 vents the too vigorous growth of the vine. Every four 

 of five years a fresh sanding, to the depth of an inch or 

 less, is given. This keeps the vines short and close. 

 Formerly, whole roots or "sods "of Cranberry were used 



