No. 4.] CRANBERRY GROWING. 259 



that any muck or peat or even any sod is absolutely essential, 

 for often portions of bogs grown on sand alone, so called ''hard 

 bottom," especially if fertilized, produce very satisfactory crops. 

 A clay or marl soil in damp situations is often found highly 

 satisfactory. Other things being equal, the freer the land is 

 from brush or timber the better, for it is more easily and 

 cheaply put into shape for growing cranberries. Fresh meadow 

 has been frequently converted into cranberry bog without 

 turfing, the grass being simply covered over with a good coating 

 of sand and the vines set out without further preparation, ex- 

 cept that of leveling and ditching, and the bogs thus made have 

 been, in most cases, satisfactory, arid they were certainly built 

 at comparatively small expense. Brush swamps are in general 

 to be preferred to wooded swamp land because of the smaller 

 expense of clearing. If heavily wooded land is used, it is desir- 

 able to remove the stumps of the trees if this can be done with- 

 out too great expense. It is advisable to cut the trees at the 

 roots so that the stumps may be tipped out in felling. The 

 stumps may be burned or removed from the bog. It is the 

 writer's opinion, however, that much labor has been wasted on 

 removing stumps, for it is a matter of common observation that, 

 after a bog has been producing berries for several years, the 

 vines are more thrifty and produce more fruit over buried 

 stumps than on the portions between the stumps. It seems 

 probable, therefore, that it would be wdser to cut down the 

 tops of such stumps as are very hard to remove and cover 

 them over. 



Locatioji. 

 A cranberry bog should be located on or close to a good 

 stream of w^ater, capable of furnishing quick flowage at any 

 time during the year. In case the stream is of itself not suffi- 

 cient, it is best to increase its capacity for flooding by building 

 a reservoir further up the stream than the bog location. This 

 reservoir, however, should be located as far from the bog as 

 is practicable, and should not be kept full during the growing 

 season any more than is absolutely necessary. If the reservoir 

 is near the bog and is kept full all the time, it will impair the 

 drainage of the bog and make it weedy. It is desirable that 

 the bog should be open to the sunshine and winds instead of 



