BLUEBERRIES AND CRANBERRIES 41 < 



cranberry plantations, or K bogs,".as they arc called in Massa- 

 chusetts, are made. In their wild state these bogs look unprom- 

 ising enough, i "i u^r <-li«>k«<l with bushes and brakes. It has 

 required considerable courage to attack and subdue them. I am 

 filled with u constant wonder thai the Bandy plains are n< I 

 utilized for the cultivation of blueberries. These fruits now 

 grow in abundance over large areas, and they are gathered for 

 market. It would only be necessary to enclose the areas, protect 

 them from fire, and remove the miscellaneous vegetation, to have 

 a eivilized blueberry farm. Certainly cranberry and blueberry 

 farms should make an interesting and profitable combination. 

 The expense of growing the blueberries would be exceedingly 

 slight, and the crop would be off before cranberry picking 



-. With greater attention given to the crop, we Bhould n<> 

 doubt Boon find out why it is that the berries fail in certain year-, 

 and it is possible that Borne control could be exercised. I have 

 often predicted that large areas of the greal pine plains of 

 Michigan— which look much like the Massachusetts bai 

 will eventually be used for the growing of blueberries. To be 

 sure, wild berries are yet common, l>nr they would not interfere 

 with the sale of hitter and cleaner berries which Bhould come 

 from civilized plantations. Wild cranberries are still abundant 

 over thousands <>r' acres, and the production of cultivated berries 

 is rapidly increasing; yet the price has advanced from 50 cents 

 and fi per bushel, with an uncertain market, 60 years b 

 15 and 20 cents a quart. Wild blackberries are still abundant, 

 yet tiny <h> nol interfere with the sale of cultivated sorts. 



The largest cultivated bog in existei lies about six miles 



north of Wareham, and is under the management of A. l». .Make 



. on.- of the oldest and most experienced cranberry - growers 

 in the country. Tins bog i- 160 acre- in extent, other i.. 

 the vicinity belong to the -aim- management. These bogs are ail 

 as dean us the tidiest garden. The long and level stretches, like 

 n carpel strewn with white and crimson head-, are :i most pleasing 

 and a novel sight. Here in early September a thousand pickers 

 camp about the swamps, - »me in temporary board oabins, but 

 most of them in *• furnishes the provisions, 



which the campers <-o..k for themselves, and he rents them the 

 <>ne hundred and twenty pickers constitute a "company," 



