Irrigation of Cranberries 365 



but it throws out of use a large percentage of the 

 area irrigated, while at the same time greatly inter- 

 fering with the working of the ground and harvesting 

 of the crops. Evidently the system is not well suited 

 to American conditions where machinery is to be used. 

 In the irrigated mountain meadows, such as the 

 one represented in Fig. 14, the slopes of the fields 

 are so steep that the water is usually led through 

 irregular furrows whose direction is determined by 

 the natural configuration of the ground, and the 

 practice becomes a species of "wild flooding " where, 

 on account of the great fall, the water is distrib- 

 uted without much labor having been expended in 

 shaping the surface. 



IRRIGATION OF CRANBERRIES 



Cranberries are usually grown upon very level 

 lands, where the ground water is naturally at or 

 very close to the surface. During the growing sea- 

 son, the aim is to hold the water in the ground to 

 within 18 or 24 inches of the surface, but on 

 account of insect ravages and frosts, it is frequently 

 imperative that the lands shall be flooded quickly 

 to a depth of 6 to 10 inches, and the water drawn 

 off again in a short time. To prevent winter -killing, 

 it is also desirable to flood the vines and hold them 

 under water until the danger from frost is past in 

 the spring, and these requirements make it necessary 

 to have the marshes laid out as represented in Fig. 

 99, where blocks of land are surrounded by low 





