32 



then it turns to pink, then red ; and some varieties, when ripe, are so 

 dark a red as to be almost black. 



Vines should be set out evenly, to produce an even and regular 

 growth; and, to accomplish this, a marker is used, made like a rake 

 with five or more teeth, set 12 to 18 inches apart. This is dragged at 

 right angles across the sanded bog. No care is needed to set the vines 

 right side up; they will grow as readily one way as the other. Two 

 inches above the sand is sufficient. More than three vines in a hill are 

 liable to heat; and if they all thrive, the vines are too thick in the hills 

 where over three are set. Hills should be 12 to 18 inches apart. Where 

 the lines cross each other those that were made by the marker will 

 indicate where to set the vines. The dibble is used in setting, to press 

 the vines down through the sand into the soil beneath, leaving the 

 vines just above the surface. Vines which do well will bear the second 

 year, the third year a good crop may be expected, and the fourth year 

 a full crop. With proper cultivation, they will do well for many years. 



Cultivation. — Thorough weeding the first three or four years will 

 assure a fairly clean bog. Brakes, ferns and rushes will grow readily 

 in ditches and on the diich banks, and should be dug out by the roots. 

 If this part of the cultivation is neglected, they will grow so rank as to 

 prevent the vines from bearing, and what few berries there may be on 

 the ditch banks will be soft or green at harvesting. When the meadow 

 is in bearing condition, all weeds should be removed by the time the 

 vines are in bloom. On Cape Cod the blooming season is usually from 

 June 10 to 25, unless winter flowage is continued late. 



Walking over the meadow, after the berries have set, will destroy 

 more or less of the fruit, and the weeding from this time to harvesting 

 should be discontinued, removing only such weeds as may be reached 

 by walking in the ditches. 



Irrigation, — This is very essential to the successful cultivation of 

 the cranberry. Too much or too little water are both difficulties to be 

 avoided; or, in other words, water must be under control of the cran- 

 berry grower. The vine roots should be well fed with water up to the 

 blooming period, but when the berries are formed the water should be 

 kept lower. 



Cranberry vines are fond of running water, and if the water supply 

 is limited, the brook and ditches may be flushed out during a rain. 

 Gravitation is the cheapest method of irrigating with water. But 

 sometimes the pond is lower than the bog. In these cases a steam 

 pump or windmill will overcome the difficulty. 



Dikes. — In laying out cranberry meadows, in many instances it is 

 necessary to build dikes. In case a meadow or bog is long, it might be 

 economy to build a roadway dike across it, thus saving time and labor^ 

 and also by the same means reducing the depth of water to be carried 

 at the time of flowing. This will be the case if the meadow has much 

 of a fall. Providing the meadow is long, and has a fall of 5 feet, to 



