60 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



the garden, and when I am going around with ashes or bone meal I take 

 a good deal of pleasure in throwing a few handfuls around the roots of 

 the shrub; and up to this time I never have failed to have au abundance 

 either of flowers or fruit. This ma}- perhaps answer the inquirj- which 

 was made in regard to the matter. At any rate for ornamental purposes 

 if for no other, the shrub deserves a place on our grounds. 



Mr. Hale. I liave been interested in this discussion, and the remarks 

 from the gentleman on my right in relation to what maj' be produced 

 from a few square rods of ground properly planted and cultivated, in 

 cranberries, are unquestionablj' correct. But to give out the idea that 

 liecause cranberries are selling this year for twelve or fourteen dollars 

 there is any possibility of obtaining that as a commercial price is a little 

 misleading. The average market price for the last ten years will hang 

 pretty close around five dollars. But even at that price it is well to con- 

 sider the value of our swamp lands here in Xew England. I think we 

 have overlooked that altogether too much. Wherever there is an oppor- 

 tunity to develop those lands by the production of some crop which will 

 take the place of the grass and worthless weeds, it is our duty so to do ; 

 and as the cranbei-ry grows wild, there is no I'easou if the conditions are 

 favorable, whj^ those bogs may not be turned into a profitable piece of 

 property. But I question whether it will pay to establish small bogs, 

 an eighth to a quarter of an acre, as the expense in preparing for flood- 

 ing is so great as to eat up the profit. There are many large bogs, how- 

 ever, all through Xew England, that could be taken up as commercial 

 propositions and made worth many times more than the whole farm. 

 A few years ago there were cheap swamp lands in sections of Michigan 

 and Ohio which were not considered worth five dollars an acre. Some 

 bright, intelligent man took a small tract and developed it into a celerj- 

 farm, and to-day you hear about the celery that comes from Kalamazoo. 

 Mich., and Akron, Ohio, and you cannot buy that laud for five hundred 

 dollars an acre. It is not worth a dollar more, but some man has shown 

 the possibilities of it, and it is turning out celery that is brought right 

 into our New England markets. Our people do not awaken to the impor- 

 tance of what our soil has within it. Our opportunities in all these lines 

 are almost too good; we do not take advantage of them. We can live 

 by neglecting the most of them, and so we do. If it were a little harder 

 to make a living on a Maine farm we should get more out of it. 



Prof. Hakvey. In regard to the price of cranberries, what I meant 

 was this ; I do not believe that any one person in Maine has bought cran- 

 berries at retail for less than eight cents a quart, and as there are thous- 

 ands of bushels imported for home consumption it will be a good while 

 before there are enough raised to glut the market, so that we could not 

 get the retail price. 



Mr. Knoavltox. There are two points that I want to emphasize a lit- 

 tle. The cranberry which the young'lady from Machias has written the 

 professor about is a variety that grows all along the coast on land that, 

 as it stands, is absolutely not good for anything except to drive over to 



