106 CRANBERRY CULTURE. 



First. A peat or muck soil, free from loam or clay. 



Second. Clean beach sand for covering the peat. 



Third. A dam and water, to overflow the vines when 

 necessary. 



Fourth. Thorough drainage. 



With all these advantages, apparently, there have been 

 some failures without them I know of no one who has 

 profitably cultivated this crop. 



The limit of profitable cultivation of the cranberry 

 will probably be found between the thirty-nintn and forty- 

 second degrees of latitude. North of this, the period be- 

 tween the ripening of the berry and frost is too short for 

 harvesting the fruit. South of it, the temperature is too 

 great for properly ripening the fruit. 



Frosted berries are improved for immediate use, but 

 will not bear carriage. 



When the fruit is grown, and ripening, exposure to the 

 sun, with a temperature of ninety degrees, Fahrenheit, 

 scalds the fruit, and renders it worthless. 



Good cranberry ground can be selected with much cer- 

 tainty by observing the natural growth of vegetation ; 

 the best are those deep peat bottoms, in which the White 

 Cedar or Juniper flourishes. 



Next in value are the heath ponds, with a thinner muck 

 deposit, generally marked by a growth of Gander Bush 

 ( Cassandra catyculatd) ; if these can be flowed with 

 brandy-colored cedar swamp water (which derives its 

 color from the muck or peat held in solution), they are 

 very little inferior in value to the first. Other soils may 

 sometimes repay the expense of preparation, but are best 

 avoided. 



Good unimproved cranberry soil, without timber, is 

 worth from twenty-five to fifty dollars per acre. 



Properly preparing and planting the ground costs from 

 one hundred and fifty to five hundred dollars per acre. 



First-class meadows, with three-year-old vines, have a 



