THE CANADIAN HORTI0ULTURI8T. 



45 



7. Growing Cranberries. — / have a lake 

 which, I think, could he dried sufficiently 

 to grow cranberries. I saw by The 

 Horticulturist that the bed should be 

 covered with sand. Why ? The hike 

 has a peat bottom. Wild berries grow 

 well around it without sand. What 

 quantity of vines should be put on an 

 acre ? What would the probable cost 

 he per acre ? Are tame berries much 

 better than good wild ones ? 



[S. H. Kerfoot, Penetanguishene.] 



We cannot better answer Mr. Ker- 

 foot, nor more interest other readers, 

 than by condensing the following re- 

 marks from an excellent editorial in 

 the Farm and Hovie. 



Cranberries are profitable providing 

 you have (1) a free supjily of water 

 at all times nnder control ; (2) a bog 

 located so that it can be either drained 

 or submerged at will; (3) the right 

 kind of soil ; and (4) a convenient sand 

 bank. 



In Cape Cod the cost of making a 

 bog and planting runs from $250 per 

 acre upwards, but a fair yield is 100 

 bushels per acre ; so they pay well if 

 everything is favourable. 



You want water for the purpose of 

 protecting your vines, so that you can 

 flow your bog and protect it from freez- 

 ing, and afterwards, in the spring-time, 

 for the purpose of killing the vermin 

 that infest the vines. You need to pro- 

 tect the crops when very severe frosts 

 come on suddenly, by flowing the bog 

 rapidly and covering the berries, thus 

 saving them. A swamp soil, not too 

 peaty and with some loam in it, is the 

 best kind of land. Trees, bushes and 

 bogs must be rooted out and the bog 

 made smooth. Then cover to a depth 

 of three to eight inches with sand or 

 fine gravel — the deeper the sand the 

 longer the bog will last. Loam will 

 not do, because it brings in weeds and 

 grasses, and is not as warm as sand. 

 The sand assists in protecting the berries 



from frost and injury. It keeps out 

 weeds, and serves as a mulch in warm 

 weather. It also keeps the bogs from 

 running to vipes, because cranberry 

 vines, if you put them in the mud, will 

 run so much to vine that they will not 

 make the uprights on which the berries 

 grow. The sand has to be wheeled in 

 wheelbarrows on planks, and spread by 

 hand Before sanding, make ditches 

 about three rods apart running into a 

 main ditch and with such direction and 

 fall as will speedily conduct the water 

 from the dam over the bog, and most 

 readily drain it off" to a depth of at 

 least 18 inches. 



Fertilizers are seldom applied, as they 

 cause too much wood growth at the ex- 

 pense of the fruit. Ground bone in 

 moderate quantities is probably the 

 safest fertilizer to use. Bogs run out 

 after a time, but may be i-enewed by 

 mowing and burning the vines and re- 

 sanding. There are bogs on Cape Cod 

 that are yielding profitably for their 

 32nd year. The vine is very hardy, 

 and may be set at any time, but the 

 spring is best. The usual course is to 

 punch holes in the ground, about eight 

 or ten inches apart each way, and in- 

 sert therein Iwo or three vines, and 

 afterwards }*ess the soil around them. 

 Some cultivators of lai'ge experience 

 set the vines in shallow furrows and 

 cover them, leaving out the end of the 

 vines. It is important to put them 

 down below the sand, so' that they may 

 take I'oot in the soil. It should be 

 kept clean of weeds until the vines 

 cover the soil entirely. If the bog is 

 kept covered with water until June 1, 

 or until danger of frost is past, most of 

 the vine insects will be killed, except 

 the fire woi'm, which is killed by 

 sj)rinkling the vines with a strong 

 solution of tol)acco. It is necessary, 

 also, to flood the bog when early frosts 

 threaten, and so turn ofi" the wat^r be- 

 fore the berries rot. 



