310 
WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Their success, as a matter of course, induced others to 
Engage in the business, and those lands were largely purchased 
of the state, so that at the present time but little, if any, 
remain unsold. The whole number of acres of this marsh, 
may be estimated at fifteeen thousand, lying in the adjoining 
towns of Aurora and Warren, and in its whole extent, is natural 
to the growth of the cranberry, the soil being composed of 
muck and silicious sand—seemingly of just the right propor¬ 
tions for a healthy growth of the vines; yet, of its whole 
extent, probably not over one-half or two-thirds of it is avail¬ 
able for cranberry growing, for the want of facilities for drain¬ 
age and flowage, and this is the great requisite in order to 
obtain full annual crop-bearing of the vines. Thorough drain¬ 
age during the warm season, and flowing from two to four feet 
deep during the cold, is about all the improvements needed, 
as all the fruit gathered up to this time, is from vines of spon¬ 
taneous growth on lands improved by ditches and drains, and 
no other labor put on them ; this fully demonstrates that it is not 
necessary to cover the ground from four to eight inches deep, 
as practised by eastern growers, and by them considered to be 
an absolute requisite for success. By a comparison of the aver¬ 
age yield per acre, “taking one year with another,'’ here, on 
our native marsh, with the best cultivated lands in New 
Jersey, it will be found that ours is fully equal. Whether 
this is owing to a more favorable soil and climate, remains to 
be ascertained, at any rate, the western grower has the advan¬ 
tage of commencing the business without the great expense of 
sanding the ground—enabling him to enlarge the business to 
an extent that would be utterly impracticable, if the operation 
of sanding was required. 
By reference to an article in the United States commissioner’s 
report of agriculture for 1869, entitled “ The Cranberry Inter¬ 
est,” we find it stated that the average crop in New Jersey 
is as follows: “Taking one year with another, averaging the 
production of cultivated fields, wherever reported, probably 
one hundred bushels per acre is a fair estimate, at the time 
the vines come well into bearing.” 
