CRANBERRY 



CRASSULA 



393 



drowned and do nothing. When frosty nights come, 

 after vines have begun to grow, water should be drawn 

 from the reservoir to cover them, and let off the next 

 morning. If the ends of the new shoots get frozen, it is 

 a decided set-back, and especially so when the vines 

 have reached the bearing age, as then it cuts off the crop 

 and hurts the prospect for the coming year by taking 

 the terminal bud. The vines do throw out side shoots, 

 however, and sometimes the second season's crop does 

 not seem to be much affected by it. When the plants 

 are in blossom (which is all through July) the ground 

 must not get too dry, or the blossoms will blast. This 

 trouble was experienced in many places during the sum- 

 mers of '86 and '87, when it was so dry that nothing but 

 a stream fed by springs could begin to furnish a supply 

 of water. Through the most of the summer, it is best 

 to keep the water from 4 to 8 inches below the surface, 

 but before the spring frosts are over it is better to keep 

 it nearly to the surface, and if it is a season of drought, 

 draw water down over the marsh about once a week. 

 After the fruit has set, if obliged to flood as a protection 

 against frost, be sure to draw the water off quickly the 

 next morning, or the berries will be scalded. 



The marsh should not be flooded for winter till quite 

 late, some time in November, generally, as the fall 

 frosts do not injure the vines, but help them harden, so 

 that they will endure the winter's snow and ice without 

 injury. Sometimes during the late winter, a rain or 

 thaw will let surplus water on the marsh and this may 

 lift the ice, and that will take the vines with it, right out 

 of the ground. This should be guarded against by open- 

 ing waste-gates and drawing off the extra water. The 

 flood should be left on the marsh in the spring until the 

 spring frosts are over ; in Wisconsin the time for draw- 

 ing off the water is generally about the 20th of May, and 

 it must be closely watched afterwards, as the vines are 

 then very tender and will not bear as hard a frost as 

 they will after they have been uncovered a few weeks. 



Berries are gathered in two different ways : one is to 

 pick them by hand, the other to rake them. The hand- 

 picking is mostly done by women and children or In- 

 dians. Every thirty pickers should have an overseer, 

 whose duty it is to see that the vines are picked clean 

 and that no refuse is allowed to go into the box ; also to 

 give a check for every bushel box filled, and to carry 

 the full boxes to the wagon, car or boat. The pickers 

 in the west use shallow peck boxes to pick in, and when 

 these are filled they empty them into the bushel box. 

 The pickers are placed in a row, thirty of them occupy- 

 ing from 80 to 90 feet, and a rope should be stretched 

 each side of them to keep them going straight ahead, or 

 else they are very apt to turn to the right or left for 

 better picking. 



The cheapest way of gathering berries is to rake them 

 with what is called a "scoop rake '^ (Fig. 573). It needs 

 stout men to use these to advantage, at least 

 those who are not troubled with backache, as 

 they must keep a stooping position almost con- 

 stantly. Rakes should 

 not be used in young 

 vines where there are a 

 great many runners, as 

 they would pull them up 

 by the roots too much,, 

 but as the vines get older 

 and the fruit shoots 

 stand up out of the way 

 of the runners, raking 

 does not seem to injure 

 them. The rakers should 

 have ropes stretched be- 

 tween them, each man 

 being given a space from 

 one to three rods wide, 

 and every ten should 

 have an overseer, who 

 will also rake most of the time. Rakers are hired by the 

 day, but hand pickers pick by the box. The rake is 

 much used in the west. 



If the berries can be taken to the warehouse in a boat 

 along the ditches, it is the best way, as they bruise 

 easily and should be carefully handled ; but if that is 

 not practicable, then they must be taken in wagons 



The hand scoop rake. 



which are driven as close to the picking ground as pos, 

 sible ; or a portable track may be laid onto the marsh- 

 and a car used. The bushel boxes which are used have 

 the sides and bottom made of lath, with small spaces 

 between; and these boxes are used to cure the berries 

 in, being piled up in tiers, so that the air can circulate be- 

 tween them. The berry-house should be built with dead 

 air spaces in the walls, and windows should be darkened 

 and building kept closed during the day. See Storage. 



Cranberries are generally shipped in barrels, but some 

 use bushel crates, though in whatever they are packed, 

 the greatest care should be taken to put them up in 

 good shape. If picked before they begin to ripen, 

 and then packed so that when they reach their destina- 

 tion they are settled from one to three inches in the barrel, 

 dealers will not want them, and this kind of manage- 

 ment has much to do with low prices. Before putting 

 into barrels, the berries are put through a Cranberry 

 mill, and then, if there are still a few bad berries, 

 they are put on tables made for the purpose, and the 

 rest of the bad ones picked out by hand. 



The profits of the business depend so much upon the 

 amount of expense which has been necessary to improve 

 the marsh that it is impossible to give any exact figures. 

 The smaller the marsh, the quicker it can be improved 

 and made to begin to pay a profit. Anyone who under- 

 takes to improve a large marsh ought not to expect 

 much from it short of ten or fifteen years, though, if 

 carefully managed, it may be made to pay cost of im- 

 proving after three or four years. 



There is a small sand marsh in Wisconsin, made after 

 an attempt to farm the land had utterly failed because 

 the soil was so poor, which has yielded a better income 

 for several years than the best farm in the county. It 

 is a profitable business when honest work and careful 

 management are united in it, but not otherwise. 



H. B. TUTTLE. 



CBANBEBBY TREE. Same as High-bush Cran- 

 berry, Viburnum Opulus. 



CBAITESBILL, Loosely applied to the whole genus 

 Geranium. In America it usually means O. maculatum. 



CBASSULA (Latin, thickish; referring to the thick 

 leaves and stems). Grassul^ceoB. This genus gives the 

 name to the order Crassulacese, which contains many 

 cultivated succulent plants, and also others of widely 

 different habit,— about 400 species altogether. The order 

 is closely related to the Saxifragaceae, and differs in 

 having the carpels of the ovary entirely free and equal 

 in number to the petals, but the forms pass easily into 

 the Saxifragacese through Francoa and "Tetilla, and 

 back again through Triaotrna. The genera are ill defined, 

 and certain species of Sedum cross over the lines of 

 Crassula, Cotyledon and Sempervivum, while between 

 Crassula and Tillsea no good distinction can be made. 

 For these reasons it seems best to give a key to the 

 genera of garden importance. 



A. Stamens as many as the petals. 

 B. Petals free, or connate only at the base. 



1. Ckassula. Floral parts in 5's: calyx shorter than 



the corolla. 



BB. Petals often connate to the middle or beyond. 



2. EocHEA. Calyx many times shorter than the tube of 



the corolla. 



AA. Stamens normally twice as many as the petals 

 {sometimes equal in number, especially in Nos. 

 S, 6, 8). 

 B. Petals free, or connate only at the very base. 



3. Seddm. Floral parts usually 4-5 : scales small. 



4. Sempervivum. Floral parts 6 to many (rarely 5): 



scales small. 



5. MoNANTHES. Floral parts 6-12 : scales petal-like. 



BB. Petals often connate to the middle or beyond. 



6. Kalanchoe. Calyx 4-parted. 



7. Bryophtlujm. Calyx large, inflated, shortly 4-cut. 



8. Cotyledon. Calyx 5-parted. 



The floral parts of Crassula are normally 5, rarely 6-9, 



