Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1871-08-16
NO. 1913.
#isfellattpits.
CRANBERRY BOGS.

Mr.. w. C. Cleft (Tim Bunker) thus tells
where to look for cranberry bog:
'The large profits realized from the
sale of cranberries for the last ten years,
has led many to inquire for suitable lands
for a plantation. It is by no means nec-
essary to go to New Jersey, or to Cape
Cod for this purpose. There is undoubt-
edly larger amount of peat bogs and
sand banks in these sections than can be
found in most places, bat there, also, the
value of the raw material is best appre-
clated, and the prices are corresponding
ly high. So far as climate is concerned,
apeat bog in any of the shore towns from
Maine to New Jersey is just as good as in
cape Cod or Ocean county. The frosts
are kept off by sea air, and the land, If
properly handled would be quite as pro-
ductive. Peat bogs in these localities
which the cranberry fever has not visited
are still quite cheap, say from $40 to $50
an acre, while on Cape Cod, they would
be worth at least ten times that sum. To
make plantation successful CONNER
cial enterprise, several things are to be
considered. We must have the three es-
sential things-peat, sand or gravel. and
capacity for tlowage, or there is no assur-
ance OF success. A bog that does not
have these requisites is not cheap at any
price. Then bog, with every thing
promising well, may be bought at such
figures as to leave small margin for
profit. If the raw material costs $500 On
acre, and the skinning, sanding and plant
ing cost $500 more, the capital is $500 per
acre, and one will have to wait three years
before he can expect to make much return.
The conditions are changed for the better
when we can get equally good land for
$50 an acre, and the cost of preparation
5000. Such lands can be found in many
of those shore towns, and the owners are
willing to sell them because they are un-
productive, and they have no faith in
cranberries, or no capital to invest in such
improvements. Still further back from
the shore for fifty miles or more, there are
lands just as good, if the stream running
through them is large enough to admit Of
sudden flowage to guard against the frosts
in September. Sometimes this can be
secured by reservoir, even where the
stream that supplies it is small. But this
reservoir OF water can only be had at an
extra expense, and must be taken into
account in making the investment. The
cranberry interest is constantly increasing
in the localities referred to, and large
sums are annually expended in grubbing
old maple and cedar swamps, carting sand
or gravel, and planting vines. James A.
Bill, of Lyme, Connecticut, is just finish
ing the sanding of thirty acres, at a cost
of about twenty thousand dollars, when
the plants are all in. Mr.. Spencer, of
Saybrook near the Shore Line Road, has
about twenty acres, nearly covered with
gravel, and the plants will be set this sea-
son. Dennis Tuttle, at Madison, has been
at work upon plantation several years,
and his vines put out last year are coming
on as finely as could be desired. The
small plantation put out by Mr.. Small
dozen years ago, though not so thoroughly
prepared as the latter ones, still bears
abundantly, and.annually makes converts
to the cranberry faith. A single acre of
this plantation one year produced 100 bar
rels of fruit, worth not far from 81, 600.
This successful enterprise has led many
to drain their peat bogs, and make plan
tations in all the neighboring towns. There
is still much land of this sort to be pos
sessed, and the chief thing wanted is cap
ital to develop it. The business is now
pretty well understood by the gentlemen
who have undertaken these improvements.
Skilled labor can be found to sand the
land and to set out the plants. There is
no more risk in the investment than in
ordinary farming, and capital judiciously
expended brings large reward. Men
who wish to make investments in this kind
of fruit culture can hardly do better than
visit these plantations along the Connecti-
cut shore.