268 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



New bogs should not be submerged for the winter until night 

 freezing becomes severe enough to show signs of heaving the 

 plants. When considerable ice forms in the ditches it is time 

 to put on the winter flood. This should submerge the vines 

 for several inches. In some seasons a sufficient heaving of the 

 vines to cause considerable damage may take place as early as 

 the 1st of November, and it is necessary to keep rather careful 

 watch of the new planting in order to guard against this. The 

 results of a slight injury from heaving in the early fall may not 

 be apparent at the time, and may not, in fact, be noticed at 

 all until the middle of the following summer, when, during a 

 prolonged dry spell, the plants come to need a considerable 

 amount of water. Some of the roots having been broken by 

 the heaving of the fall before will then be vuiable to supply 

 what is required of them, and a dying back of the tips, espe- 

 cially of the runners, will be likely to occur. In the spring, 

 during the first three or four years, the winter flowage should 

 be removed from a new planting about the 20th of April. At 

 times of sudden thaws or of heavy rains, in winter or early 

 spring, care must be taken to allow the surplus water to escape. 

 If this is not done, and the flowage is so shallow that the vines 

 have been frozen into the ice, the raising of the ice by the 

 water may pull young vines out of the ground. More weeds 

 grow on a bog during the first two or three years after planting 

 than afterwards, for the vines have not, at that time, suffici- 

 ently covered the bog to successfully compete with them. If, 

 however, the bog is kept free of weeds during its early youth 

 comparatively little trouble will be experienced with them after 

 it comes to bearing. The grower should come to understand in 

 a general way the characteristics of the weeds with which he 

 has to deal at this time, for it is sufficient to merely cut off the 

 tops of some kinds and so prevent them from seeding, while it 

 is absolutely essential that others should be carefully pulled up 

 and rooted out. Moreover, many upland weeds, which will be 

 entirely killed out by the winter's flooding, frequently appear 

 on new plantings, and these need not be given any attention. 

 After the bog has come into bearing, all weeds should be re- 

 moved by the time the vines are in bloom, and if certain weeds, 

 such as sedges, rushes, cotton grass or cut grass appear in 



