126 



CRANBERRY CULTURE. 



These facts being admitted^ it would be wise not to 

 advance southward with this cultivation. If the ber- 

 ries will soften here occasionally and partially with high 

 temperatures at picking time, when the fruit is fully 

 colored, we of course could advance to some point south 

 of this, where the berries would be colored in the hot 

 weather, and as a result, be softened every season. Con- 

 sequently, I believe this cultivation will be prevented 

 from advancing very far south of the State of New Jer- 

 sey, unless it should be in elevated mountain districts. 

 To the northward, we would reach a point at which the 

 coloring of the fruit to perfection, and the time for freez- 

 ing weather, would come together; hence the berries would 

 always be frozen soft before picking if they were left until 

 they were colored. In my judgment this culture cannot 

 extend beyond 45° of north latitude. 



^^The only thorough and complete remedy which we 

 have for this scald, is irrigation through the means of fre- 

 quent ditches. A patch meagerly covered with vines would 

 in time be partially remedied by the production of a dense 

 covering, or perhaps by the application of manure to a 

 poverty-stricken soil, to encourage the growth, of a cover- 

 ing of the ground. An increased quantity of ditches, in 

 a bog considered too dry to need them, may also assist 

 in preventing scald, as the vines would root deejDer, 

 and consequently would not suffer with a severe drouth. 

 These, with a judgment to select a soil and situation 

 which has the requisite moisture with drainage, are the 

 only means that I can think of to prevent this trouble. 



These conclusions are the result of a number of ob- 

 servations of the weather for the past fifteen years, and 

 some of these I shall enumerate and comment upon to 

 show, in a measure, how they were derived. 



''1 have seen Cranberries in an open-top glass jar, 

 good, sound fruit, one half softened from the effect of 

 the sunlight, which shone through a windov/ upon that 



