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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



THE CRANBERRY., 



Much has been written on the cultivation of the 

 cranberry on high land, but in most cases we have 

 had roiDorts from partial trials. Some person sots 

 vines with a shovel-full of peat taken up with the 

 vine, and this may support it the first season ; but a 

 few years' experience is necessary to show the effect 

 of hard winters and dry summers. 



One cultivator took a premium for raising four 

 hundred bushels of cranberries on an acre of high 

 land. A gentleman informed us last summer that he 

 had been to his place, and searched in vain for high 

 land cranberries. A few years since, something was 

 published of extensive and thorough experiments on 

 the cultivation of the cranberry, in a certain location, 

 and occasionally we heard something more on the 

 subject. 



Last fall, the season for the crop, we examined the 

 result of these experiments, and though there ■was 

 not a single berry to mark the site, or show the object 

 of expenditure, there were monuments of great labor 

 and expense. 



We name these discouragements, as the public 

 have been deceived on this subject, and it yet re- 

 mains to be proved, by fair experiments, whether the 

 cranberry will endure our cold and changeable win- 

 ters, and hot, dry summers, on dry land, or common 

 tillage, with common cultivation. 



We have seen very fine cranberries, of spontaneous 

 growth, on extremely dry, hard, poor, porous soil, 

 where weeds could obtain but a stinted growth. This 

 loads us to suppose that they would do Avell in the 

 more advantageous situation, apparently, of good, 

 mellow Innd, in good condition. 



We planted vines, from high and low land, last 

 spring, on common tillage, and gave common cultiu'e. 

 All that we report is, that they lived, grew but little, 

 and bore only a few berries. The following commu- 

 nication is one of the most sensible that we have ever 

 seen on this subject. With it we received a box of 

 cranberries, remarkably fresh, rich, and spirited, and 

 yet very tender ; being finer than those picked in the 

 fall, cither at that period or the present. Time and 

 the weather have finely ripened and mellowed them, 

 without any loss of good qualities. 



For the New Enffland Farmer. 

 CuLTrv'ATiox OF THE Ckaxbeiiuy in G.vkdens. 



Me. Editok : It is probably not generally known, 

 that the cranberry can be successfully cultivated, 

 like the strawberry, in our gardens ; yet such is the 

 fact. It is necessary, however, to prepai'e a bed of 

 common garden soil, not absolutely dry, in which a 

 portion of sand and peat has been well incor- 

 porated. This preparation of soil we deem important 

 in the cultivation of the cranberry. Possessing, as it 

 does, a delicate, fibrous, or hairy root, it requires a 

 sandy peat, in which to thrive. In the selection of 

 plants for the purpose of cultivation, wo prefer those 

 growing in low grounds, near the upland, in prefer- 

 ence to those found in wet, mossy meadows. We 

 think the autumn a favorable season for transplant- 

 ing the cranberry, as they can the more readily 

 be taken from low, wet lands. In removing the 

 l^lants, it is best to take up a sod of earth with them, 

 carefully ]ncking out the grass. These may be set in 

 the bed, in rows twelve or eighteen inches apart, and 

 if the ground is mulched with litter between the 

 plants, it wiU serve to keep it moist, and prevent the 

 growth of weeds. This will bo no longer necessary 

 when the vines extend and cover the ground with a 

 thick mat of verdui'e ; they are then less affected 

 with the drought, and the weeds disappear. 



It may bo necessary to water the bed, in very dry 

 weather, and keep it clear from Avecds and grass, at 

 all times. The plants of the cranberry need protec- 

 tion in winter. This, you will recollect, it always 

 receives in its wild state in the meadows, by the 

 overflowing of them by water. My plants arc pro- 

 tected by covering them with the boughs of some 

 evergreen tree. I prefer, for this purpose, the pros- 

 trate branches of the juniper, or, as it is sometimes 

 improperly called, ground hemlock. This effectually 

 protects the roots of the plants from the effects of the 

 frost, likewise its evergreen leaves, and its fruit. 



We have been in the habit of leaving a consider- 

 able portion of the fruit of the cranberry on the 

 vines during the winter. AVe find it keeps well, and 

 can be taken fresh from the vinos, when wanted. 

 The cranberries I send you wore taken from my 

 bed yesterday, and you will perceive a plumpness 

 and freshness not to be found in those dried in gar- 

 rets, or drowned in water, in cellars. Those persons, 

 who have had much experience in the cultivation of 

 native plants, found growing in swampy or very wet 

 land, will have noticed that some of them will bear 

 a removal, and more readily accommodate themselves 

 to a comparatively dry soil, than others. And I am 

 inclined to think the cranberry is disposed, when 

 removed to our gardens, and a suitable reception is 

 prepared for it, to accommodate itself to its new loca- 

 tion. Eut in order to completely naturalize it, and 

 render it at home, we should produce jjlants from 

 seeds taken from specimens under cultivation. I can 

 see no obstacle in the Avay of complete success, in 

 the cultivation of the cranberry, provided the same 

 care and skill is bestowed upon it, that is rendered to 

 other fruit. 



SAMUEL P. FOWLER. 



DanvepvS, New Mills, Dec. 12, 1848. 



For the New England Farmer. 



CULTIVATION OF RYE. 



Mr. Cole : It has been a matter of surprise, that 

 so little attention has been given, by our farmers, to 

 the raising of this grain. When it is considered, 

 that a fair crop can be grown on land of ordinary 

 quality, and that the crop can be raised and gath- 

 ered with less labor than most other grains, no good 

 reason can be given why the farmer should not raise 

 enough for his own consumption. 



