AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
23 
posted in the soil before allowed to come in con¬ 
tact with the fibrous roots of the young trees. 
3. Mulch the tree well after setting out. 
Mulching consists in placing the manure— 
be it new or old—leaves, tan-bark or whatever 
is used, loosely on the surface of the ground for a 
considerable space around the tree. On no ac¬ 
count mix it with the soil in transplanting. 
4. The first step, and most important, in pre¬ 
paring for a fruit yard, is thoroughly to drain 
the soil. The tree cannot be healthy and vig¬ 
orous without this. 
5. Take care of the tree after setting it out. 
Many persons do not bestow as much labor on a 
tree, which ought in ten years to yield an in¬ 
come of, ten dollars per annum, as they do on a 
half dozen hills of potatoes. They do not seem 
to be aware how great the difference is between 
the quantity and quality of the fruit on a kindly 
treated, well-fed tree, and that of one half starv¬ 
ed and dwarfed. Let it be always remembered, 
that whatever is worth doing at all, is always 
worth doing well. 
THE CRANBERRY. 
Continued from page 6. 
Tiie mode of setting out the cranberry in such 
a swamp, if we suppose it to be covered with 
bushes and grass, and surrounded by a sandy 
soil, or in the immediate neighborhood of sand, 
would be as follows: First, cut the bushes and 
pare off the surface turf to the depth of several 
inches, so as to remove, as far as possible, the 
roots of grasses and bushes; then level the 
whole by filling in sand to the depth of from 
two to four or five inches, according to circum¬ 
stances. It is desirable that the surface of the 
sand should be but slightly raised above the 
level of the water of the swamp, meadow, or 
pond filled up, so that, by digging into the sand 
with the hand or the hoe, the water may be 
found within two or three inches of the surface. 
The plants should be taken up with the spade 
in square turfs, of the thickness of two or three 
inches, this being the depth to which the roots 
generally descend. When the ground has been 
leveled and prepared as directed above, it will 
be found more convenient to draw straight lines 
and set the roots about eighteen inches apart 
one way, and one foot the other, in small clus¬ 
ters of about five or six together, the grasses 
taken up with them in the turf having first been 
removed from them. The practice of some has 
been to set the turf, thus taken up, into the row 
without removing the grass ; but the vines are 
so tenacious of life that there is little danger of 
their dying, even if all their natural earth is re¬ 
moved from the roots; and those who have 
followed this method have generally had much 
less trouble in the subsequent cultivation. Some 
prefer to set them in rows, at a greater distance 
apart, having the rows two and a half or three 
feet, and the plants one foot, in the rows. The 
distance may be regulated, somewhat by cir¬ 
cumstances. If the sand is thick and loose so 
as to make it impracticable to cultivate the 
vines and pull up the grasses and weeds, on ac¬ 
count of the danger of starting the roots, the 
closer the plants are set, the better, since they 
will thus the sooner cover the ground and get 
the advantage of the grasses. Where it is not 
intended to hoe the plants in such situations, a 
foot each way will probably be the most con¬ 
venient distance between the plants. 
Many fields which I have seen, are thus ar¬ 
ranged. Swamps like those described, which 
have always been considered as entirely incapa¬ 
ble of improvement, have been reclaimed in 
many instances, with great labor, and filled up 
with coarse, white beach sand, and often, wiierc 
the swamp has been covered with water, to the 
depth of three or four feet. The plants have 
then been set out in the manner described, from 
one foot to eighteen inches apart, in holes made 
in the sand by a small stick, hoe or dibble, and 
sometimes with the hand; a small cluster of 
roots taken from the sod in which they had 
been taken from their natural position, freed 
from grass and roots, being placed in each hole. 
In such a situation there will always be mois¬ 
ture enough for them. 
The cost in these cases varies from $100 to 
$400 per acre. Under the most favorable cir¬ 
cumstances, I have never known an acre pre¬ 
pared in this way, to fall below $125 ; and that, 
too, even where it has been prepared in the most 
economical way, all the labor being performed 
by the owner himself. The cost, in the situa¬ 
tions described, including the original prepara¬ 
tion by paring, fencing, filling up w r ith sand, 
procuring and setting out the roots, has more 
frequently been about $300 per acre. In many 
cases within my knowledge, the owner has con¬ 
tracted to pay at the rate of $1 87£ a square 
rod for preparing the land and setting out the 
plants properly. In somewhat more favorable 
situations, the contractor pays $1 50 a rod, or 
at the rate of $240 per acre. 
When the roots are thus transplanted, a foot 
or a foot and a half being left between them, 
they are expected to spread and entirely cover 
the ground with vines, in about three years. If 
the plantation is troubled by grasses at first, the 
rapid growth of the plants will generally destroy 
them in the course of three or four years. In 
one of the most successful cases which have 
come under my observation, where the plants 
have been set about six years, the quantity of 
grass and weeds was much less the last season 
than the preceding; the vines produced abun¬ 
dantly, and there seems to be every reason to 
suppose that the cranberries will very soon take 
full possession of the ground. But if they are 
set sufficiently near, and have a proper amount 
of labor bestowed upon them, they will ordina¬ 
rily, on sand, get an early hold of the ground, 
and bid defiance to all opposition. 
In some swamps and peat meadows, generally 
denominated “ shaky,” the surface is composed 
of a matting of roots, mosses, and various un¬ 
decomposed organic matter; the whole of which 
seems to rest on a liquid, or almost liquid, bed 
beneath. This top matting may be thick and 
strong enough to prevent, a person walking over 
it, from falling through. In such cases, the 
surface cannot very well be taken off, and the 
sand must be put upon the top; but careful 
consideration should be given to the quantity 
used, as, if too much be put on, its weight may 
sink the whole surface into the water beneath. 
Two or three inches will commonly be found as 
much as it is prudent to use. I have seen sev¬ 
eral examples where a noglect of reasonable 
precaution, in regard to this matter, has cost 
the owner the loss of all his labor and expendi¬ 
ture. 
The mode of treatment which has been des¬ 
cribed, will|be found to be the best for swamps 
surrounded by large quantities of sand ; and 
experiments, extending over a term of seven or 
eight years, with plants every year becoming 
more and more productive, show conclusively, 
that cranberries will flourish in pure wdiite sand, 
if they are supplied with sufficient moisture. 
If the position be a peat meadow, substan¬ 
tially the same course should be pursued. If 
very moist, it would, perhaps, be well to arrange 
suitable drains; and if these drains could be so 
constructed as to make it possible to flow the 
plantation in a very short time, it would, at 
times, be highly beneficial in preventing frost. 
The surface should be pared, the turfs being 
sometimes taken off and piled up for the com¬ 
post, and sometimes turned directly over and 
left on the ground. As to the next step, in 
such cases, there is great difference of opinion, 
some preferring to cover the whole with sand— 
or gravel, if sand cannot be had—and others, to 
put the vines directly upon the peat bottom. 
The black soil, it is thought, is very useful in 
securing sufficient warmth in spring and au¬ 
tumn, as a protection against frost. This point 
has not been fully settled by experiment, so 
that it is impossible to say positively, that the 
one course or the other is the better. So far, 
however, all things being taken into considera¬ 
tion, the weight of opinion seems to be in favor 
of the former course,—covering to the depth of 
three or four inches with sand, or, where sand 
cannot be obtained, with gravel. This method 
very much diminishes the labor of hoeing, if it 
be found necessary, where the roots of grasses 
or bushes are left in the peat. Most cultivators 
prefer to hoe a little, sometimes twice or three 
times the first and second years after transplant¬ 
ing, or till the vines have trailed so as to make 
it inexpedient. The objection "to transplanting in 
pure peat bog without sand, does not arise from 
the nature of the soil itself, which is, perhaps, 
as favorable, or nearly so, to the cranberry, as 
sand; but rather from the cause alluded to— 
the difficulty of hoeing, if the plants require it, 
when set in peat. The cranberry set-ms to have 
a wonderful power of adapting itself to any kind 
of soil ; it draws its nourishment mostly from 
the atmosphere, though a liberal supply of 
moisture is desirable. 
A somewhat simpler mode of procedure is 
sometimes adopted in the case of ordinary low 
meadows or swamps in the country. If the 
meadow is covered with bushes and hassocks, 
the former are cut and the roots taken up with 
the grubber, and the latter are cut off level with 
the surface, when the vines being taken up from 
another part of the meadow or elsewhere, are 
set by first striking a hoe into the soil and rais¬ 
ing it slightly when the roots are inserted, and 
pressed down with the foot. In this way, a 
large space may be quickly set with vines, 
which, under favorable circumstances, may 
cover the ground in three or four years. This 
method, it is evident, requires but little skill. 
I have never seen more than one or two plan¬ 
tations with the roots set in the mud alone. In 
these cases, the soil had settled around them, 
leaving the plants standing on the ends of' the 
roots, nearly out of the ground. So far as can 
be judged from appearances, they were by no 
means likely to grow ; while close at hand was 
a piece covered with sand, on which the vines 
were very thrifty, with not a sign of failure. 
The mixture of sand had given the surface more 
consistency, and the plants had become well 
rooted and strong. 
The experiments which have already been 
made, clearly show the practicability of raising- 
cranberries on upland. I have seen flourishing- 
plantations of them on all varieties of soils, from 
a high and light gravelly loam, to a very deep, 
rich, garden soil. Indeed, the universal opinion 
seems to be, that such cranberries arc better 
than those growing naturally in wet meadows. 
In the instances which I have myself seen, the 
land had been carefully plowed and prepared, 
as it usually is for strawberries, or plants of 
that description. The plants were taken from 
their original situation in the manner described, 
in the sod, and freed from grasses and roots; 
they were then put into shallow trenches or 
drills dug for the purpose, about two and a half 
or three feet apart. In consequence of the large 
space left between the drills, constant and care¬ 
ful attention was necessary for two or three 
years, so that far more labor was spent on them 
than the same area of strawberries would have 
required. 
In one case, the plantation was situated on a 
high and dry hill, in a light loamy soil, and no 
water was supplied except what they had from 
occasional rains. The vines nearly all lived; 
but as the plantation was only three years old, 
and the rows too far apart, they had not wholly 
covered the ground, nor had they borne to any 
extent.— C. L. Flint's First Annual Report 
to Massachusetts Board of Agriculture. 
- • -®-a— —- 
Fortv thousand hog’s bladders were sold a 
few days since at Louisville, at 2^-cents each, to 
fill an order from Europe. They are used to 
hold snuff, and for other purposes. 
