44 Notes and Gleanings. 



manded, and a good supply of fine gravel, or sharp, flinty sand, is near at hand, 

 we have the necessary conditions ; and operations may safely be commenced. 

 The first thing to be done is to prepare the land for the crop, vi'hich is done by 

 draining by ditches about two feet deep, running entirely around the land to be 

 used. The surface must be broken up, and made mellow : if covered with grass 

 and hassocks or bushes, they must be thoroughly eradicated by one or two years' 

 cropping with potato or cabbage, or by carting off the sod and bushes. The 

 land must then be graded to a uniform slope from the middle of the field to- 

 wards the ditches, just sufficient to allow the surface-water to run off without 

 standing in pools. Any slope greater than this will require increased depth 

 of water in flooding, and should be avoided. The sand is spread on in depth 

 of from two to six inches, — the deeper the peat, the deeper should be the 

 sand, — and the land is ready for the plants, which should be planted in May, 

 or early in June. 



The land is marked out with a common garden-marker in rows a foot and a 

 half asunder, and the cuttings stuck in by hand about three or four inches apart ; 

 the water is kept eighteen inches below the surface until November ; the sand 

 is frequently hoed meanwhile, and kept scrupulously clean of all weeds. In No- 

 vember, the sluice in the dam is shut, and the water raised to at least eighteen 

 inches over the surface. If less depth of water is used, there is danger that the 

 ice will freeze into the plants ; and a freshet might lift the whole bed up by the 

 roots, ice and all together. The water is drawn off in May the following year, 

 and the hoeing and weeding followed up industriously through the summer. No 

 crop need be looked for this season, the vines having hardly taken hold of the 

 peat. Flooding is repeated in the same way as the first winter ; and, on the third 

 year from planting, we may expect the vines to have made considerable growth, 

 and a small crop to be taken. Some weeding will be needed, as the vines do not 

 get full possession of the land until the fourth year ; after which they need no 

 labor and no manure, and no care except to flow and drain the meadow as above 

 mentioned. The reason for flowing the meadow in winter is to protect the vines 

 from severe weather ; and it is kept on in spring to drown out the cranberry- 

 worm, which makes its appearance in May. Where the meadow is so situated 

 that it can be flowed suddenly, it is a great advantage, as it enables the owner to 

 draw off" the water early in spring to give the vines a good start ; and then, if the 

 worm should appear in May, it can be drowned out by raising the water for a few 

 days, which does no harm to the vine. Another great advantage in being able 

 to command sudden flowage is the control which it gives us over the harvesting 

 of the crop. Sharp frosts often occur in October just as the fruit ripens, which 

 render the berry soft, and almost worthless. Where we cannot cover our meadow 

 with water at short notice on a frosty evening, we must pick the crop before 

 frost comes, even if not quite ripe ; but, where sudden flowage can be attained, 

 the meadow is put under water on the approach of frost, and drained the next 

 day, to allow the berries to ripen, and the piciccTs to go to their work. Cran- 

 berry-meadows, once established, continue fruitful almost indefinitely : some on 

 Cape Cod have been in constant bearing for over twenty years. After several 

 years' growth, the vines need pruning, which is done with a sharp, long knife ; 



