"A Year on the Cranberry Bog"

People all across the country love cranberries. They have a stronger, sweeter flavor than other fruits. Cranberries grow naturally in five states: Massachusetts, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Washington, and Oregon, as well as some provinces in Canada.

Cranberries grow in bogs. Bogs are areas of land that were originally formed by glaciers. They are filled with layers of sand, peat, gravel, and clay. Spongy, decaying vegetable matter covers the soil. Cranberry shrubs and vines grow well in this environment because bogs are acidic and remain moist.

The growing season for cranberries begins in April and ends in November, with the farmers carrying out certain measures to ensure that the crop is protected during the extreme cold.

As the weather slowly starts to warm through April, woody stems called runners stretch across the length of the bog. The runners are covered in buds that will grow into new shoots called uprights, so named because they grow up, towards the sun.

It is important for the vines to be protected from frost, which can occur not just during winter but also spring and fall. To do this, farmers use sprinkler systems to irrigate the bogs with water. Water actually gives off heat as it freezes, and it is this heat that will protect the buds and shoots from cold-weather damage. The ditches surrounding the bogs are essential for flooding and draining the bog.

During the summer, the cranberry blossoms vines are in bloom, and pink and white blossoms cover the bog. It is important that weeds be kept under control, and to do this, farmers can employ several different methods. They pull the weeds by hand or apply an herbicide to destroy the weeds. Other farmers keep flocks of geese, because the geese love to eat the seeds that will eventually turn into weeds.

Insects and certain types of fungus also may pose a risk to the cranberry crop. Pesticides are used to combat this problem, but only when necessary. Many farmers also use integrated pest management techniques, such as insect nets and sticky traps, as an ecological form of pest control.

There is, however, one type of insect that cranberry farmers want to have around, and that is the honeybee. Starting in early June, farmers will rent beehives to pollinate the cranberry flowers. Generally, they use one or two beehives for every two acres of bog.

When the blossoms wither in mid-July, the beehives are removed. What is left, where the blossoms had been, are small green nubs called pinheads, which will eventually mature to about three quarters of an inch in size and turn a deep crimson red.

When the crop is ready, starting about mid-September to early November, the farmers can begin the harvest. There are two methods of harvesting: wet and dry. The majority of cranberries are wet harvested. Cranberries that are to be sold fresh and therefore cannot be bruised or otherwise damaged, are harvested using the dry method. This means the vines cannot have any moisture on them at all, and even something like an early morning mist can put off the harvesting until the vines have had a chance to completely dry out.

Dry harvesting involves picking cranberries using mechanical pickers that have metal teeth that remove the berries from the vines and deposit them into a burlap bag or wooden box. Once each bag is full, it is removed from the machine and placed on the bog, and a new, empty bag is attached. There are several ways to remove the full bags of fruit: they can be carried off by hand, removed by tractors, or several bags can be combined in larger crates and lifted off by helicopter where they will be taken to be cleaned, sorted and bagged.

Wet harvesting involves flooding the bogs and using a machine called a water reel—nicknamed an "egg beater" because of the motion it employs to spin through the water and knock the fruit off the vines. The berries will then float to the surface because of small pockets of air inside each fruit. A floating tube, made of wood, plastic, or rubber, called a boom, is then used to collect the floating berries. The cranberries are then lifted onto a conveyer belt or pumped into a truck and taken to a receiving station to be cleaned. These cranberries look worse for wear, but since they are not sold to be eaten fresh out of the produce section, it doesn’t matter what they look like.

After the cranberries are harvested, fresh cranberries are sold as whole berries or are used for juices and sauces. Sweetened, dried cranberries, as well as being added to other foods, are available at supermarkets across the country.

With the harvest complete, the farmer will flood his bog for the winter, which will protect the vines from injury. A layer of sand can be applied over the ice covering the bog, which will sift to the bottom when the ice melts in the upcoming spring. This new layer of sand will stimulate growth, help control weeds and insects, and offer additional support for the cranberry vines, ensuring a good harvest the following season. 

 

‎Question
Part A

What is the purpose of paragraph 14?

Responses

to show the complete cycle of a cranberry bog

to show the complete cycle of a cranberry bog

to demonstrate the life cycle of a cranberry plant

to demonstrate the life cycle of a cranberry plant

to describe what a cranberry bog looks like in the winter

to describe what a cranberry bog looks like in the winter

to explain how the cranberry season ends in preparation to begin again

to explain how the cranberry season ends in preparation to begin again