THE CRANBERRY 125 
The bogs are commonly covered with water during the winter, 
as a protection against frost. This has an additional advantage, 
because insects are drowned that would destroy the cranberry 
crop, for a cranberry bog has many insect enemies. The worst 
of these is called the fire worm. It spins a thread around a group 
of growing leaves, hides itself in the midst, and eats them at its 
leisure. The bog soon looks as though a fire had passed over it, 
hence the name “ fire worm.” 
The worm is really a caterpillar which develops into a moth, 
and the cranberry grower who has not succeeded in drowning the 
caterpillar has another method of ridding himself of the pests. 
The first crop of moths come out at the end of June and fly 
about laying millions of eggs, which will hatch early in July into 
fire worms and go on destroying the vines. 
Now moths generally fly at dusk or in the twilight, but they 
are attracted by any light, and fly to it. Bonfires are built about 
the bogs in the early evening, the moths gather around and flutter 
up to them to see what they are, and fall in and are destroyed. 
The vines blossom in summer, and are generally in full bloom 
about the 4th of July. The berries begin to ripen after the 
petals have fallen off. 
The flowers are small but very pretty. The petals are white, 
tinged often with pale pink. The stamens are bright orange, the 
flower stem deep crimson, the buds are quite pink, the leaves 
bright, glossy green. The plant is not very showy, however, 
because it is so small. The plate shows it as life-sized. If it 
were larger it would probably be cultivated for the beauty of its 
flowers. 
