CULTIVATION OF CRANBERRIES. 79 



ON THE CULTIVATION OF CRANBERRIES. 



BY NATHAN PAGE, JR. 



The first thing necessary for a novice in the art of cranberry- 

 growing, if he intends to engage in that business, is to learn 

 what has ah-eady been done by others. It is quite too expen- 

 sive for a man of ordinary means to attempt a new business 

 without first informing himself in regard to it. A wealthy man 

 can, if he chooses, proceed ignorantly, and bear, without injury, 

 the ill-success that he is quite likely to meet with. A poor man 

 most certainly cannot afford such risks. He needs to be reason- 

 ably sure of success — not a partial, but a paying success. Most 

 men desire good and profitable results from their labors, what- 

 ever their necessities may be. 



One most excellent way to get information, is to visit the 

 grounds of other cultivators. To inexperienced persons I 

 would say : You can learn in six days' time, spent with 

 successful cranberry-growers of different places, many important 

 facts that it miglit cost you six years of experimenting to obtain. 

 You should see the different situations in which cranberries 

 flourish, and the various soils on which they succeed, that you 

 may be able to judge intelligently of the value of your own 

 grounds for cranberry-growing. You should see which, of all 

 cultivated vines, are the most hardy and prolific. You should 

 compare the qualities of different varieties, and learn which is 

 best, and which would be most profitable for growing in the 

 soil and situation at your command. But you should partic- 

 ularly observe the various modes of cultivation, and note the 

 •cost and the comparative success. If you would get the most 

 valuable information on any branch of agriculture, ask it of him 

 who has made the study and practice of that his special business. 



It is possible to grow cranberries on almost any kind of soil. 

 Probably there is not a farm under cultivation in all New 

 England, on which cranberry vines cannot be made to flourish 

 and to produce more or less fruit. But there are two kinds of 

 soil on which it will pay to cultivate this valuable fruit. Clean, 

 moist sand, and wet meadow or bog soils are most suitable. In 

 Essex County there are many hundreds of acres of wet meadow 



