16 



CRANBERRY CULTURE. 



New Jersey and Massachusetts, and planted tliem in low, 

 rich, meadow ground, which to him seemed suitable for 

 them. They were caretully tended, and the growth was 

 most luxuriant, but there was no fruit. Supposing a cover- 

 ing of sand would check the growth, he procured some at 

 heavy expense, and spread it over them; still they 

 remained barren, and after several years of unfruitfulness, 

 were offered to a New Jersey grower for setting out a new 

 bed. But the appearance of the vines condemned them; 

 they had become almost as thick as pea vines, and the 

 grower would not accept them., even gratuitously. Per- 

 haps the only way of making this patch fruitful would 

 have been to have covered the vines, during several suces- 

 sive winters, with as much clear sand ns they would grow 

 through, until a covering of six or eight inches had been 

 placed upon the original soil. 



W e have visited hundreds of acres of cultivated cranber- 

 ry meadows, the vines for which were taken indiscrimin- 

 ately from natural bogs, without reference to their kind or 

 quality, and we have yet to see the first square rod of 

 barren vines, tlie cause of which could not be traced to 

 the soil on which they were growing. 



Barrenness may result from two causes, viz., the soil 

 may be too rich in vegetable matter, or it may he too 

 poor. 



The cranberry plant, like many others, if put on very 

 strong land, will run to vine, and produce little or no 

 fruit. The sweet potato, for instance, sometimes makes a 

 great show upon the surface during the growing season, 

 without yielding, when harvested, the abundant crop 

 that its vines seemed to promise. 



Generally speaking, where we hear of barren vines, we 

 hear of a luxuriant growth. Productive vines, of good 

 repute, have, to our certain knowledge, become fruitless 

 by being placed under circumstances most favorable for 

 their growth and development, 



