*53 



passing through an old style hay cutter with the knife 

 moving up and down, cutting the plants into the desired 

 length, say about four to six inches long. After the 

 plants are set (which is usually done in the spring of the 

 year) they need to be thoroughly cultivated, and kept 

 entirely clear from all weeds and grass, until the vines 

 entirely cover the ground, which takes ordinarily from 

 two to three years. After that, there is nothing more to 

 do but gather your crop, unless you wish to increase your 

 crop or raise your bog to the highest standard of produc- 

 tiveness. If so, you will need to cover the .vines with 

 sand about one inch deep as often as once in every five 

 or six years. This will give new life to the plants, and 

 greatly increase their productiveness. But I have seen 

 several bogs that had not been dressed or cultivated for 

 more than twenty-five years, that gave very abundant 

 crops, but these bogs had an underhvyer of muck, more 

 than ten feet deep and very rich. 



The cost of preparing these bogs varies in different 

 localities according to the price of labor. On Cape Cod 

 the cost of preparing their bogs is about two hundred 

 dollars an acre. This includes the clearing of swamps, 

 the covering it with sand and the setting of the plants. 

 I have visited bogs that cost three hundred dollars an 

 acre where the sand was brought from a distance, but 

 these bogs usually pay for their cost in from three to five 

 years. The more cautious of our farmers will ask, "where 

 could we sell the berries if everybody went into the busi- 

 ness? " We answer, there is no danger of everybod}^ going 

 into the business at present, and then we should remem- 

 ber that the markets of the world are open to' us. In 

 many countries of the world the cranberry is entirely 

 unknown. Ten years ago the cranberry was not known 

 on the tables, even of the better classes, in the great city 

 of London, as a table luxury, and then we are assured by 

 the best medical authority, that the cranberry contains the 

 best vegetable acid known to science, and as soon as some 



