Making and Managing a Cranberry Bog 



Thos. D. McGill, Middle Clyde, Nova Scotia 



IN STARTING the business of cultivat- 

 ing- cranberries, the first thing to con- 

 sider is the right place to plant them. 

 Cranberries require peat covered with 

 ' sand. The vines will grow almost any- 

 where, but to make them pay, give them 

 the best place available. It is best to 

 have the peat only a few inches thick, as 

 it then requires only about foyr inches of 

 sand, but I grow them successfully where 

 the peat is from two to eight feet in 

 depth. This depth requires from six to 

 eight inches of sand. 



Choose a location that can be flooded i 

 at will. The vines will grow without 

 flooding (I cannot flood one of my 

 patches) but to make the business profit- 

 able one wants all the advantages. 



USE ANY KIND OF SAND 



The patch should be near some place 

 where sand can be secured conveniently. 

 Use clean sand, with or without gravel. 

 I prefer the sand mixed with gravel, 

 but there must not be any earth or clay 

 mixed with it. A good test for the sand 

 is to take a handful and press it hard 

 for a moment and then let go; if it falls 

 to pieces, it is all right, but if it holds 

 together it is mixed with earth or clay, 

 and will not do. The gravel that is us- 

 ually put on our roads will not do, as it 

 packs, being mixed with a kind of clay. 

 The kind that I used was what they used 

 to make plaster with, except that it was 

 mixed in places with gravel. This has 

 done better than the clean sand alone. 



PROTECT AGAINST FROST 



The next thing to think about is frost. 

 To one not in the business, it may seem 

 that this is not of much account, but it 

 is one of the most important points to 

 consider in Nova Scotia. To know how 

 to select a place that will escape frosts, 

 one must know something about frost. 

 He will give it another name and call it 

 "cold air." Now, cold air is heavy and 

 acts like water. It settles in the low 

 places. Hence choose a place that will 

 drain off the cold air; that is a place near 

 a place still lower. A lake answers well 

 for this purpose. A low piece of ground 

 is the next best. One foot makes a lot 

 of difference. For instance, part of my 

 patch is a foot higher than the other 

 part. This year the high place escaped 

 frost ; the other part was injured. It is 

 no advantage to have the patch on high 

 ground. If it happens to be surrounded 

 by hills or high trees, cut the trees away 

 on the lower side, and if the hills are 

 high on all sides give it up. I have one 

 place that is ten feet higher than the 

 other place, and all surrounded by hills. 

 I had to give it up. 



COVERING WITH SAND 



After selecting the place, the next 

 thing is to consider the best way to do 



the work. The best way is to flood the 

 patch a year. That will kill everything. 

 Another way is to cover the top of the 

 bog when the peat is only a few inches 

 thick, with about four inches of sand. If 

 the peat is from one to ten feet in depth, 

 cover the grass and bushes with sand 

 from six to ten inches deep. Some of the 

 bushes may come through, but it is easy 

 to pull them up. Before beginning to 

 put on the sand, make a drain all around 

 the patch three feet deep and two feet 

 wide, and ditches across about 200 feet 

 apart, two by two. I put most of my 

 sand on in the winter on the ice. I blew 

 up the sand with dynamite when the frost 

 troubled me. The frost is not bad after 

 you make a start and work every day. 

 Another way is to lay a movable track 



In planting I used a piece of steel like a 

 large flat file with a handle on one end, 

 and pressed the vines in the sand. 



When building the dam have it high 

 enough to cover o\er two feet the highest 

 part of the patch. If the ice touches the 

 vines it freezes to them and lifts them out 

 the first time that the water rises. It 

 requires two dams, one below the patch 

 to flood and one to hold the water back 

 until wanted. 



FLOODING 



Flood the bog the tenth of November 

 or sooner, if you notice the frost touch- 

 ing any of the vines. Let the water off 

 about the 6th of May. Flood occasion- 

 ally until the 21st of June. Do not flood 

 again until September unless you have 



A Cranberry Bog that Yielded One Barrel to the Square Rod 



use a handcar that a 

 Move the track as you 



in sections and 

 man can shove, 

 cover the bog. 



PLANTING THE VINES 



I get my vines wherever I can find 

 them. I found out that all vines would 

 bear, but that vines that grow small ber- 

 ries when wild will be small when culti- 

 vated, perhaps slightly larger. The best 

 plan is to get vines that grow large 

 berries. 



Plant the vines in rows two feet apart. 

 Place the vines in little bunches six 

 inches apart, with four vines in a bunch. 

 The vines should be about six inches 

 long. They do not require to have roots. 

 As the tops grow, weed the patch to 

 keep it clean. I used a small steel fork 

 made all in one piece by a blacksmith. 



strong reasons for so doing. I have in- 

 jured the vines, destroyed the bloom and 

 the berries by flooding in July and Aug- 

 ust to kill the cranberry worm. 



After the vines begin to show blos- 

 soms the water will kill them. Water 

 used rightly will kill all enemies except 

 the "tip worm" that eats the buds, and 

 so far I have found this one a hard one 

 to fight. I am trying now by way of 

 experiment, flooding my patch until the 

 loth of June, having the water shallow 

 as possible, so it will be warm enough 

 to kill the eggs. 



PICKING 



The second year the patch should yield 

 a few berries ; the third year, a small 

 crop ; the fourth a good crop. I pick on 

 the 20th of September. I have a large 



