Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1871-03-17

paying annually sum into the savings
bauk-for we regard On Investment in
real estate as certainly good-over putting
it into landlords pockets is most appar-
ent. Invieorated health, independents.
and self-reliance are the fruits- of this
cutting adrift from city life. and these We
are worthy Of striveing for is the firm
conviction of one who has succeeded.
Depth of Covering for Cranberry Bogs.
The planting Of cranberry bogs is great
! ly on the increase. and in some commuDi.
ties amounts to fever. Cape Cod apd
Ocean county will no longer have q mo.
nopoly Of the business. The industry no
longer needs inspiration. but guidance
only. Some ten years since. patch of
six or eight acres vas planted in Essex
county. st has produced excellent crops
so uniformly, that it has made d great
many converts in all that region and now
capitalists are buying up suitable land.
and laying out large sums in preparing it
for planting. Much has been learned
during the past twenty years. and the ex-
perience of intelligent cultivators has set
tied so many points in the management Of
the crop that it is no longer regarded as
a hazardous experiment. Capital is put
into it with just as much assurance of
ample and safe returns. as from ordinary
market garden or farm crops. II bus
been settled that the three grand rcquis-
ties for the successful cultivation Of the
cranberry are peat. sand or gravel. aud
capacity for dowage at will. Cranberries
can be grown with some variation of these
requisites, but not with uniform success
They will grow in almost any swamp that
produces moss. naples and swamp whor-
tleberries, but the crop will be small and
often fail They can be planted on the
bare peat. but there will be more vines
than berries. The vines will grow with
out aowage, but the fruit will often be
destroyed by the frost. and by the worms.
But where the three requisites are all
present, there is still occasion for inquiry
and deliberation. What depth Of sand or
gravel is now question Of great import
ance, for it involves the outlay of many
thousand dollars the comisg season. -
Some say three inches. and some say six.
Capt. q. Small, Of Harwieh. Mass, the
best authority We have on Cape Cod crau-
berry culture, says three oe Gin inehee.
according to the characterof the bog. A,
the Grass Pond bog. in Coventry, B. l..
it is three inches. and that without skins
ming; and the cost is only about fifty dol
lars for the preparation. The cost Of six
inches, with skinning. is from three to
five hundred dollars per acre, according
to the facility Of getting Sand. price Of
labor. eto. We shall get clear view Of
the merits of this question if we consider
the Office which sand performs 10 the
growth of the crop. The first object is to
keep down the growth of all other vege-
tation until the cranberry vines are thor
oughly established, and completely cover
the ground. This takes three years where
the vines are put out in hills, eighteen in
ches apart each way. If clean. silver
sand or dead gravel is put on, few weeds
or none will start. and the labor OF hoefng
is but o triae.i mo cultivation is needed
if there are no weeds. Now, if the sand
has been spread'upop = bare peat, thstsis,i
a peat bog skinned six or eight inches
deep, three inches are just as, good as six.
so far as checking weeds is concerned.
But the sand or gravel is also needed to
check the growth Of the vines after they
are established. If the soil is too rich
beneath the sand. the plants will run too
much to vino and teo little fruit. If the
bog is made up of decayed moss princi-
pally. three inches are enough. If II has
grown naples and other hardwood plants,
it will be too rich. and more depth Of sand
is needed to keep down the luxurianoe Of
the vines. At Coventry, the bog ismain-
ly the bed of an old pond that never grew
anything but moss and coarse. thin grass.
The vines are not too luxuriant to yield
in favorable years. barrel to the square
rod. Another Office Of the sand is to re-
tain heat. and thus guard against frost In
Juno and August. ''It<iswellknown that
in the lew places. where this plant four
ishcs, there are often light frosts. when
there is none upon upland. Of,course
more heat will be retained in 2 covering
of six inches of sand than in. . covering
of three, and plantation might be saved
from frost with the deeper covering. where
otherwise it would be ruined; but if We
have the contrsl Of water, We can keep OF
frost much cheaper with water than With
sand. We notice that capitalists who are
making plantations this sessos hsve gen
orally covered with six inches of sand.
without regard to the quslity of their
swamp land. This. to be sure. il The
safer course, but We think from one, to two
hundred dollars an acre might often be
saved in the covering. BY ., little discrim-
iuation in the character Of the soil.
nserican Agriculturis. '''' - -
EE-The Tschnolcg;st says: ''Ons cord
Of wood cut and split fine. and corded up
beneath shelter while gFesn,. will furnish
more heat after it has become seasoned
than two cords of the same ,wood which
has been continually exposed TO the alter
nate influences of storms and suDshines. I"
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