AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO. 52 NORTH M.iRKET STREET, (AomcuLTnuAi. Wabehoobb.)— ALLEN PUTNAM, EDITOR. 



ifOl,. ,V\II.] 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 27, 1843. 



[NO. 13. 



N. E. FARMER. 



NQUIRIES RESPECTING THE CULTIVA- 

 TION OF THE CRANIiERRY. 



A correspondent from Pliiladelphia, wishes iis to 

 jive him some information rcspeclinij tlie mode of 

 ulturo and some particulars about the Cranberry, 

 s produced in our coontry : " the mode of plnnt- 

 ng— "hen to plant— how to prepare the "•round — 

 vliat llie product per acre — and what (if any) are 

 he incidents that may cause a failure of the crop ?" 



Tilt; cultivation of the Cranberry (Oryroccvs 

 nacrociirpus) is, we believe, but little attended to 

 n Massachusetts, as it grows spontaneously on 

 arge tracts of flat sandy or moss bog meadows in 

 VIedfii'ld, Dedharn, Barnstable, Lmroln, and in 

 nany other sections of the Slate. Formerly, hut 

 ittle attention was paid to the gathering and sell- 

 ng of the fruit, and the meadows were free for all 

 o pick as many as they saw fit. The meadows 

 vere con.'iidered a great nuisance, as they would 

 iroduce but little or no grass when the cranberry 

 lad taken possession, and much pains was taken 

 jy many of the farmers to eradicate the vines by 

 )urning. This was the case in our youthful days, 

 ind we have often seen largo tracts of cranberry 

 neadow undergoing the process of burning, for no 

 Jther ojjcct than this. We have no experience 

 jurselves in the cultivation of the cranberry, nor 

 lave we ever seen a field artificially made ; but 

 :hal they may be profil.ably cultivated, is beyond 

 doubt, as the experiment has been made, and we 

 "ind a f'u- facts in relation to the subject, in the 

 N. R. Farmer, vol. ix. p. 137, copied from the 

 liarnslable Journal, which we republish for the 

 benefit of our correspondent and others : 



" Cranberries The Barnstable Journal states 



that Capt. Henry Hail, of Barnstable, has for the 

 last twenty years cultivated cranberries. He has 

 now (Nov. 183(1) about an acre of ground under 

 lukivati.in. For the last ten years he has raised 

 an averiiije of 70 bushels, and in some favorable 

 seasons, 100 bushels. 



Sandy bog-land is the soil best adapted to their 

 growth, and it should be kept well drained. 



Capt. Hall has a tract of about four acres en- 

 closed, which he calls his ' Cranberry Yard,' of a 

 Jamp sandy soil, surface nearly level, and where 

 uot planted with cranberries, covered with rushes 

 ind swamp brush. The cranberry vines were set 

 iround on the borders of the ' yard,' some on land 

 elevated two or three feet above the general level 

 of the surface. The vines grow most vigorously, 

 and the berries are of a better quality and more 

 abundant where the soil is most sandy and damp. 



In very dry seasons, the cranberries are liable 

 to be eaten and destroyed by worms ; but in gene- 

 ral, are, under skilful manageinent, as certain a 

 crop as any kind of grain or garden vegetable. 



'I'he manner of transplanting is simple. Holes 

 are dug four feet apart, made deeper than for corn ; 

 into e.'-ch of these, sods of vines are placed. The 

 cranberry has creeping roots, spreads very rapidly, 

 and in three years from the time of planting, will 



entirely cover the ground. If the land is over- 

 grown with hushes, they must first be removed ; 

 but it is not necessary to destroy rushes, for the 

 cranberry vines will do that in a few years. 



When the land is very low or covered with a 

 thick growth of weeds and rushes, Capt. Hall prac- 

 tices spreading over it a quantity of beach sand 

 before planting. No other cultivation is performed 

 or required, than to keep the land drained, and cat- 

 tle from injuring the vines. The cranberries sell 

 from .*! to $\ 50 per luichel, and the cost for pick- 

 ing is 20 cents per bushel." 



The article concludes by staling tliat Mr F. A. 

 Ilayden, of Lincoln, gathered from his farm in that 

 town, in 1830, four hundred bushels of cranber- 

 ries, which he sold for ,$(iOO, in the city of Boston. 



The editor of the Genesee Farmer makes the 

 following comments upon the above article, as 

 published in the N. E. Far., vol. ix. p. 251 : 



" Now where is the propriety of farmers emigra- 

 ting to Michigan or the Rocky Mountains, when 

 they can be compensated for their labor in this 

 manner, in the immediate vicinity of our large cit- 

 ies, where the comforts of life and the blessings of 

 civilization are so easily obtained. 



" Now let us look a little further into this busi- 

 ness. If we go to raising cranberries, where shall 

 we find a market ? This is a very natural ques- 

 tion, but is easily answered : Go where Mr Hay- 

 den went, if you are not suited with the New York 

 market. Cranberries, unlike most other kinds of 

 small fruits, are capable of being transported to 

 Europe, without suffering by the voyage, and we 

 have seen American cranberries selling in London 

 at eight dollars per bushel, as fresh as when gath- 

 ered from the marshes." 



The editor then proceeds to compare this kind 

 of farming with the raising of wheat in the north- 

 ern part of Ohio and Michigan, and comes to the 

 following result : "The net profit of wheat per 

 acre is S4 — that of cranberries, .$85." This was 

 according to the price of each commodity at that 

 time (1830.) He remarks further: "Thus it would 

 appear that the net profit of one acre of cranber- 

 ries in New England, would be equal to that of 

 twenlyone and a quarter acres of wheat in the 

 northern part of Ohio and Michigan : now this is 

 all well: there are some people who seem to re- 

 quire care to make them happy ; and thus by emi- 

 gration, they can increase their cares twenty fold, 

 on the same amount of business." 



We suppose tiiat the best way to propagate the 

 cranberry, where there are no plants to be conve- 

 niently obtained, would be by seed. The best 

 mode to do this would suggest itself to any com- 

 mon cultivator, after having been informed of the 

 proper soil to grow them in. We should try the 

 experinienl by sowing the seed in drills, about 15 

 inches apart, in autumn, and when grown, trans- 

 plant them to the place where wanted. 



We have ourselves paid $12 per barrel for cran- 

 berries fur a friend to ship to London: this was in 

 Q season of scarcity. 



The failure of a crop is sometimes occasioned by 

 a frost in the beginning of June. We have never 

 noticed any other cause of failure. 



The berries are gathered with an instrument 

 called a cranberry rake, which scoops them off the 

 vines, and when the operation is well and carefully 

 performed, but few are left behind. 



We have thus given all the information respect- 

 ing the cranberry that we are at present in posses- 

 sion of. If this fruit is still successfully cultiva- 

 ted, and any thing of importance touching the sub- 

 ject can be added, we should be happy to receive 

 it. J. B. 



For the N. E. Farmer. 



ROSR-BUGS— WHALE-OIL SOAP. 



J\lr Editor — The Rose-bugs have, in this vicini- 

 ty, of late years, become extremely numerous, and 

 very destructive, not only of roses, but of grapes, 

 and many other kinds of fruit, eating the apples, 

 peaches, cherries, &c. There were this year thou- 

 sands of cherry stems and stones left on tho branch- 

 es of my cherry trees, from which the Rose-hugs 

 had eaten all the eatable part of the fruit. Some 

 persons had their whole crops of fruit destroyed 

 by these bugs. Whale-oil soap has been said to 

 be a preventive of mischief from Rose-bugs. I 

 have tried it. I made a strong suds with whale-oil 

 soap, and threw it plentifully on the vines, trees 

 and fruit, but the next day I found that the Rose- 

 bugs were more plenty where I put the whale-oil 

 soap-suds, than they had ever been before. We 

 caught and destroyed a number of quarts of them, 

 but after this it was estimated that bushels were 

 left. The best way which I have found to cateh 

 them is to take a small and deep tin cup, (a tin 

 pint measure answers well,) hold this under the 

 bugs with one hand, and as the bugs see your oth- 

 er hand approaching, and jump to avoid it, they 

 fall into the cup, from which they cannot climb out 

 like a wasp, and as they cannot fly directly up- 

 wards, they cannot fly out over the top of the cup, 

 till the cup is nearly full. 



Can you tell us of any way, Mr Editor, by which 

 .ee can preserve our delicious fruits from the rava- 

 ges of the Roso-bngs. 



Yours, very respeetfully, 



ASA M. HOLT. 



East Haddam, Conn., Sept. i\th, 1843. 



Remarks et J. B. — The Rose-bug is one of 

 the most annoying insects which prey upon the 

 products of the garden, when they appear in great 

 numbers, as they have in many places the present 

 season. We have had some experience ourselves 

 with them in seasons past, and know of no better 

 method to get rid of them, than the one named by 

 our correspondent, except that we use a tin wash 

 dish, which being much broader, is more effectual. 

 Whale-oil soa;), if properly applied, is sure death to 

 slugs, lice, and many species of worms ; but for the 

 rose bug, squash bugs, &c., we doubt its efhcacy. 

 If any one knows a method to get rid of these 

 troublesome insects, they will center a favor upon 

 the public by sending it to us for publication. 



