CRANBERRY. 285 



ranged that both the flowage and drainage can be controlled 

 at will. Land that has been covered with stagnant water for 

 a long time, as the bottom of ponds, is not fit for the growth 

 of this plant until it has been cultivated and exposed to the air 

 for a year or more. 



Soil adapted to it. Wherever the cranberry is growing nat- 

 urally one may be sure that the land near by is adapted to its 

 culture. If no wild plants are growing near the supposed prop- 

 er location, it is a safe and good plan to plant a few rods of 

 the most favorable portion of it as an experiment before spend- 

 ing much time or money on improvements which may prove 

 to be futile. With a bog adapted to the growing of this plant, 

 with control of the drainage and flowage, a good crop of fruit 

 is assured for almost every year, if the work of preparation is 

 properly done. Yet there are many wild and cultivated bogs 

 that have yielded very profitable crops for many years where 

 the flowage has not been controlled, and hence if that factoi- 

 cannot be directed at will, it is not necessarily a sufficient rea- 

 son why an attempt should not be made to plant suitable land, 

 providing the work can be done at small cost. The returns 

 from natural cranberry bogs may often be greatly increased 

 by a little judicious expenditure. 



Preparation of the land. The first steps should be directed 

 to destroying the vegetation growing on the land. The proper 

 method of doing this will vary according to the location and 

 condition of the land. It can sometimes be done by flooding 

 the land for one year and then clearing it, or by summer fallow- 

 ing, and it may occasionally pay to cut off the whole surface 

 of the bog, with spade or turf ax, and remove it by hand. But 

 in some way the surface of the land must be cleaned of its 

 growth and made level, and fine and perfect as a garden. If 

 it is to be flowed, it should be made perfectly level, as it will 

 then take much less water for flowage than if uneven. This 

 matter is especially important where the water supply is limited. 



Supplying sand. It is of great advantage to have the sur- 

 face of the land covered with about four inches of clean sand, 

 and this should be done even if at considerable expense. The 

 sand used should preferably be rather coarse, but it must be 

 free from clay or loam, as anything tjiat encourages the baking 



