Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1862-05-12
GNOrtester Daily Spp.
From the n. Y. Post.
CranberrIes In the Garden.

HI INC SdFOens
To the Editors of the Ecening Post HAY
ing read in your agricultural column several
articles on the cultivation of the cranberry.
and knowing that many are skeptical-as you
say you have been-as to the practcability of
It's cultivation on upland, am tempted to of
Ter you an account of my own experience,
though on a small scale, extending through
the last five years.
The plants were selected from several va
rieties growing in a neighboring marsh on ac-
count of their superior productiveness and the
extraordinary size of their fruit They were
transplanted from the marsh to the garden, in
the early part Of June, 1S57-the marsh at
that time being so wet that some care was re-
quired to pull up the plants without sinking so
to fill India rubber boots with water. They
were set in drills two feet apart-a small tuft
of vines, perhaps two dozen stems, once in a
foot in the row. They grew finely, and bore
three pints of berries the same year. The
next year (lo50) they yielded one peck of
fruit. In 1853, owing, l believe, to the great
frost we had in June, they bore but six quarts
In 1860 we gathered from them three bushels
and last year (S61) the yield was three bush
els, two pecks, and five quarts
The vines now cover little less than rod
and half Of ground The size of the berries
is remarkable, many of them having dame
lSl VI lllCC-QudTlCTS Ol an men. Inc largest
| observed Of last years growth measured
seven-eighths of an inch across, and one of
the previous years growth was full fifteen-six-
teenths of an inch.
As to cultivation, l found it best to weed
them as often as once week in the growing
seasons OF the first three years, stirring the
ground occasionally with narrow hoe or
transplanting trowel so long as any part of the
bed remains unoccupied by the plants. In
the spring of the second year put on about
fifteen bushels of fine muck, and worked it
into the soil between the rows. The last sea-
son the plants had become so thick as nearly
to exclude the weeds from the body of the
bed, though they are Still somewhat trouble
some at the outer edges.
think it important that the ground should
be kept light and mellow, that it may readily
absorb moisture, and also to facilitate the
wedding. Where muck cannot be easily OBJ
tanned, well-rOtted chip manure, or leaf
mould from the forest might do well instead.
The vines, if not too frequently disturbed, will
take root readily when they come in contact
with mellow soil in the growing season. |
have never applied to them any manure, with
the exception Of the muck above named, and
two or three pailfulls of soap-suds, which [
threw on last spring, intending to repeat the
operation, but omitted it on account of heavy
rains which followed.
have watered them only, when in their
season of poisoning and setting fruit, it has
been so dry as to make it necessary to water
the cucumbers, squashes, &C., growing near
them. Our garden is of about medium dry
ness for this region; situated in north latitude
about forty-two degrees, and two miles east of
the height Of land between the Housatonic
and Pennington rivers, at an elevation of at
least one thousand feet above tde-water Soil
such as is usual on the hills of Litchfield
and Berkshire counties, where the timber is
chiefly beech and maple.
| have failed Of success in an attempt, on a
small scale, to cultivate plants which were set
in autumn and, from several experiments
that have come under my observation, be-
heve that to ensure success in transplanting
from a marsh to upland the plants should be
removed before but near the time for the COM
mencement of the growth for the season.
which here is usual Yin the marSh-about
the middle of June. In the garden they start
about fortnight earlier.
A thrifty and productive cranberry bed
would be an ornament in any garden The
plants are pleasant to the sight even in winter,
when not covered with snow; their color then
varying from dark green to brownish red. At
the commencement of their summers growth
the new shoots start from the tops of the old
stems, resembling in color and freshness the
young growth of flax. Soon the blossoms
small, though abundant and pretty-begin to
appear in the new growth of the vine, and for
five or six weeks new blossoms continue to
open and the fruit to set, till the growth of the
vine and the poisoning cease, and the Der
ries-some of which, from the first blossoms.
have already a diameter Of one third to one
half of an inch-are finished rapidly to their
full size, and before the last of August they
begin to show the rich mahogany color, which
with the profusion of fruit renders the cram
berry bed, during the month of September, an
object of surprising beauty.
c. B. PHELPS, Colebrook, Conn.