107 



In my business I raise more fruit than vegetables. I think, 

 however, that, from what vegetables we do raise, we get better 

 results from our labor by plowing coarse manure in, in the 

 Fall. 



Hoping what little I have written may be of some benefit to 

 you and others, I remain, etc. 



Reply of H. A. Stiles of Mlddleton, who received the Society''s 



premium in 1878, /or his experiment in the cultivation 



of the cranberry, and received the premium 



this year for best cranberries. 



Your postal came duly at hand. It would afford me greater 

 pleasure in replying could I make some statements concerning 

 cranberries, resulting from long experience, close observation 

 and continued experiment. 



The following year after I received the Society's premium, 

 half an acre of the land which grew the premium crop was 

 burnt over by sparks from the Railroad and, consequently, but 

 few cranberries have grown there until the present year. This 

 piece of land was ploughed, harrowed, and rolled down smooth- 

 ly, and after setting the vines about ten inches apart, no labor 

 worthy of note, has since been expended by way of improve- 

 ment. As the nature of this soil is quite sandy, a very impor- 

 tant requisite, and considering the comparative cheapness of 

 preparing the land by ploughing, I regard it, on the whole, as 

 my best experiment in growing the cranberry. That portion 

 of land (about an acre) lying west of the railroad, which con- 

 tains more muck and less sand, I did not plow, but spread up- 

 on the grass about three inches of coarse sand, has generally 

 produced good crops of cranberries yearly. Last year the 

 prospect for an abundant crop on all my lots was never so good 

 until the 6th of June, when that remarkable frost destroyed 

 them. Last September I spread two inches of sand over this 

 piece of land from the cart, and although the quantity of ber- 

 ries was not increased this year, they ripened earlier and were 

 less injured by the frosts of September, and will, the next few 



