272 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



conditions would affect the cost. Certainly the process of 

 sanding will do the least possible mechanical injury to the 

 vines if the sand is put on the ice. This mechanical injury is 

 undesirably great in the spring, but the sand is, of course, 

 somew^hat cleaner for the following season if it is applied in the 

 spring. There is usually, however, not so great a rush of work 

 in the fall as in the spring, and labor is, therefore, usually more 

 abundant, and better attention can be given to the work at 

 that time of the year. Moreover, the injury done to the vines 

 at that season is not very great. The cost of thorough resand- 

 ing with from a quarter to a third of an inch of sand varies 

 from $20 to $30 an acre. 



Pruning. 

 Sometimes vines become undesirably thick and dense. This 

 may be due to a variety of reasons. It most often occurs on 

 new bogs where the bottom is very rich and the sand mulch 

 comparatively thin. Under such circumstances it is probably 

 best to thin out the vines by the use of knife-rakes and then 

 sand the remainder heavily. With the exception of this treat- 

 ment for the improvement of heavy vine conditions, pruning 

 as a general practice on cranberry bogs is probably not to be 

 recommended. It is sometimes desirable, however, to thin out 

 loose runners by a very light use of the rakes. 



Fertilizing. 

 Extensive experiments with fertilizers have been carried on 

 for several years, but it has not yet been definitely proved that 

 there is any great advantage to be had from their use from 

 the standpoint of fruit production. There appears to have 

 been no decided increase in the quantity of fruit due to the use 

 of fertilizer, except where some form of nitrate has been used, 

 and in this connection it is probably safe to recommend for 

 many bogs the use of nitrate of soda in moderate quantities 

 (100 pounds to the acre). The best results from the use of this 

 fertilizer are to be expected on portions of the bog which for 

 any reason are thin vined, especially on the portions over 

 "hard bottom" (sand or clay underneath instead of peat). 

 Such fertilizing on new bogs is probably entirely undesirable 



