CRANBERRIES. 109 



covered with maples and horse-briers, the mud being about 

 two feet deep in the central portion and running to nothing 

 at the upland. I commenced clearing it of turf, stumps, etc. , 

 in 1866, and covered about four square rods with pond and 

 coarse hill-sand, say about three inches deep ; set it to vines 

 Juue 18 and 19, 1867. I also set, at the same time, one 

 square rod without sand or gravel. On both these patches 

 there were some berries the first year. I set a much larger 

 patch in the fall of the same year, and the residue in June, 

 1868. A portion of those set in 1867 have been kept clear of 

 grass and weeds, the result being a much larger growth of vines 

 on which the berries set well in the spring of 1869, but not 

 one in a thousand of them matured, the worms making al- 

 most a clean sweep of them, the destruction being much more 

 complete where the grass was kept out than where it was suf- 

 fered to grow. Thus far I can see no benefit from gravel or 

 cultivation, except in the appearance of the vines. There is no 

 regular stream of water passing through the lot, it being quite 

 dry in the summer ; but I keep it flowed in winter and until 

 the last of April. I am experimenting with great care in the 

 selection of vines which bear fruit of the first quality, having 

 procured them from four difierent towns. As I keep a record 

 of my proceedings, I shall be able, if living, to give the super- 

 visor a full report of success or failure. I think spring is the 

 best time for setting vines. I am unable to complete the 

 foregoing statement, as my father would have been glad to do, 

 if living. I find by his memoranda that the expenses of clear- 

 ing, fencing, building dam, gravelling and setting vines, 

 amount to about $400. In the fall of 1871 the cranberries 

 were very fine, though not abundant, the yield being 21 bar- 

 rels ; in 1872 but about 1\ bushels. The crop of the present 

 year, the harvesting of which we have just finished, measures 

 60|- heaping bushels,* such as buyers demand, making, I sup- 

 pose, 20 barrels. ^.^^ jj ^ Bryant. 



Statement of Benjamin W, Rohhins. 



The cranberry meadow I entered for premium contains 80 

 square rods. It was formerly low upland and brook meadow. 



* Level measure is the statute measure for cranberries. 



