34 CAPE COD CBANBEERTES. 



winter, and great damage was occasioned thereby. When 

 such a catastrophe occurs, the vines are washed out, and 

 all the matei'ial used in building the dam is carried down 

 with the water and scattered broadcast over the bog. We 

 often make two or three grades to a bog, where the pitch 

 is six feet or more, and the resulting injury would be 

 great and the loss serious were such a break to occur. 



In flowing a bog, all that is required is a sufficient 

 depth of water to cover the vines. The proper time to 

 commence flowing is about the first of November, before 

 any ice forms ; although, if by any chance the vines have 

 become frozen in the ice, that of itself will not destroy 

 them. It is subsequent flowing which lifts the ice, which 

 as it rises, tears out the vines. This causes the harm, 

 and the way to avoid it is by adjusting the gate to the 

 flume so as to let off all surplus water. 



The gate of a flume is constructed as follows : Two 

 parallel strips of wood, one inch and a half thick are 

 nailed perpendiculary near the center of each side of the 

 flume an inch or more apart, and opposite each other, as 

 seen in figure 10. The gate, constructed of matched 

 inch boards, slides up and down between these strips or 

 grooves of wood, as is shown in at A and B, figure 10, 

 by means of a chain and roller. This is one way of con- 

 structing the gate and it is the common one on the Cape. 



If water for flowing is obtained from a stream which 

 flows through the bog, but one dam with its flume and 

 gate is often all that is required. If a pond or reservoir, 

 on higher ground supplies the water for flowing, then, 

 besides this dam, there must be another as the source of 

 supply, by opening the gate in which the water for flow- 

 ing will be let on. 



For the first two seasons the water should be kept on 

 the bog until the last of April ; but when the bog is two 

 years old, and in condition to bear, water should be kept 

 on later, say until the first of June. If any one wishes 



