496 
Wisconsin - State Agricultural Society. 
gladness in our homes, and it- is very pleasant to look upon, these 
bright, fresh plants which greet us every morning with their open¬ 
ing leaves and fresh flowers, assuring us that we have not planted 
in vain. “After all, what is the real use of all your flowers?” many 
people say. Not the slightest use in the "world to any one who 
could ask such a question. They seem to have a lesson, however* 
for some. Prof. Swing says: “ I study the flowers of the field, and 
come home a tenderer father, and a better believer in God.” And 
it is much that this “ spirit of beauty ” that pervades our work is 
not left without a witness in the hearts of those with whom we 
-dwell. 
CRANBERRY-CULTURE. 
H. FLOYD, BERLIN. 
Cranberry-culture is receiving some attention in this State, but 
not near what it should or will receive as soon as we become con¬ 
vinced of its practicability and profit. Up to the present time, a 
large share of the efforts to reclaim and plant marshes with the 
cranberry-vine, have been largely experimental, and many of these 
experiments have proved failures, in whole or in part. The causes 
of these failures are various. Some have planted in grass, which 
• 
was not kept down; others have planted in marshes of no depth, 
with no supply of water to keep them wet, and hence have failed of 
the wished for or expected results; while others have planted in 
marshes not adapted to the growth of the plant, or on such as are 
flowed with hme-water, or are so much occupied with other plants 
as to choke out the cranberry-vine after it had been planted. 
The great enemy of the cranberry is sage, a plant common to all 
marshes naturally adapted to cranberry-culture. This plant in¬ 
creases rapidly, under favorable circumstances, by sending out sto- 
lens when the marsh is dry and in proper condition for the rapid 
growth of the cranberry-vine. Hence, all lands which are to be 
planted with the cranberry should be cleared from sage, and nearly 
so from grass or other plants, especially the small brake or fern 
that sometimes infest these marshes. 
