108 CBANBEEBY CULTUEE. 



white sand, and is mostly found of the best quality in 

 cedar swamp bottoms. Its depth can be found by run- 

 ning down a pole. 



The next requisite is thorough drainage, which is 

 equally important with the peat. If the swamp or land 

 selected cannot be thoroughly drained, so that the water 

 can be brought at least twelve inches below the surface, 

 it had better be abandoned, no matter how advantageous 

 the location may be, how well adapted the peat, nor how 

 easily it is flooded. 



Having cleared the swamp of all turf and vegetation, 

 smoothed the surface, and thoroughly ditched and drain- 

 ed it, it is then ready for the sand. This should be clean, 

 coarse, and entirely free from any mixture of loam; 

 otherwise, it will pack hard, and prevent the roots of the 

 vine from spreading, and from reaching the peat or muck 

 beneath. The runners cannot take root, and the plant 

 will scarcely extend beyond the hill in which it is planted. 



"Without the sand, vines planted upon peat will grow 

 luxuriantly, and may bear one or two crops. The surface 

 becomes covered with a dense growth of long runners and 

 uprights of twice the usual length. The runners become 

 woody, and the uprights are soft and flimsy. The pres- 

 ence of sand is absolutely necessary in the growth of the 

 healthful and fruitful vine. The vigorous, short uprights, 

 full of berries, will have, when drawn through the fin- 

 gers, a rough, grating feeling, compared with the long, 

 barren uprights, grown upon pure peat. 



In addition to checking the too luxuriant growth of the 

 vine, and affording a requisite element of its proper food, 

 the sand, to a very great extent, prevents the growth of 

 weeds. The depth of the sand upon the peat should not 

 be less than six inches.* 



* When the muck is only one foot thick, two or three Inches of sand will be 

 found snfflcient. 



J. J. w. 



