River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1875-11-11

chaos. The walks were incomplete, the
trees broken and dead, because set in a
haphazard way, and left to shift for
themselves without mulching; the fences
dilapidated and down, with the lawn and
flowers laid waste by the feet of the ami
mails whose proclivities are to "root hog,
or die = the buildings brown and unin-
wiling from tho lack Of paint. The same
system Of neglect extending into the
house as well the walls bare, neglected,
and without ornament.
CRANBERRY CULTURE SOUR BOGS.
[Bricksburg, N. j., Oct. 20, Correspondents
Philadelphia Times.l
Some thirty odd years ago Captain
John |. Webb, Of jackson township,
Ocean county, in this State, began exper-
imenting with the cultivation of cranber-
ries which were growing wild upon his
land. Gathering the few bushels in the
swamps he carried them to Trenton, 80
miles distant, where they were readily
exchanged fer his winter stores. The
captain was the proprietor of wooden
leg, with which he deity punched the
vines into their places and made them
stay there. The result was that the
pioneer of cranberry culture in this
State, all in due time, became n man Of
means, and he has refused $1,000 an acre
for his boys. / met the captain few
days ago, swinging along on his wooden
leg, as rosy checked and vigorous.lookin
as a school boy just let out for holiday.
lie is popularity known as the cranberry
king" The first attempt to cultivate
this fruit was made by Captain Henry
Hall, of Dennis, Mass, on Cape Cod, in
the year 1912, and the vines from which
the first crop was gathered have borne
good crop ever since, and vii. afford q
fair yield this autumn. The cranberry-
growing district of New Jersey inclades
parts OF the counties of Ocean. Burling.
ton and Atlantic, although some small
portions Of Monmouth, Middlesex, Cam-
den. Cape May. and perhaps one or two
other counties are adapted to the cultiva-
ton OF the fruit. The greater portion is
located in what il known as the "Pinss,"
wherein also lie the charcoal regions, a
tract containing about 100000 acres.
Just now the cranberry pickers are as
busily at work as the mosquitoes are
working at them. In walking over the
boys the ripe crimson berries are 80 nu-
merous that they constantly mash and
pop beneath your feet, while the still
more numerous mosquitoes pop away at
your face, hands aud neck. passed
over boz of 100 acres in Burlington
county where the pickers we're as busy as
bees. There have been 400 men, women
and children at the same time on this
single bog. Each pick from two to Ave
bushels a day, for which they are paid
fifty cents bushel. The men average
about four days in the week and general.
ly get drunk the rest, although OF course
they make better showing in some sec
tons. After the vines have been pretty
thoroughly gone over, the water is let in,
and bushels Of berries rise to the surface
aud float down to the gates, where they
are raked out.
The cranberry, like all cultivated fruit,
is developing numerous varieties, the
principal OF which is the bell, Of deep
notified crimson and somewhat pear
shaped; the white, which ripens the ear
Hest and rots the soonest, and the common
round berry, which is the least liable to
rot, and will keep longer than the other
two together. The fruit, like all others,
has its enemies, the most destructive Of
which is that popularity known as the
scald or rot, though some separate these
two blights. The vines begin bearing the
third or fourth year after being set out,
the yield increasing each season for
double that time. The cultivator finds
his whole field or "bog," as it is always
called down here, blushing crimson, or
about to DO 50, and he rubs his hands and
bushes also as he mentally calculates his
near profits. An acre yields from one to
four hundred bushels. which sell from
two dollars bushel to three and four
dollars, and during the year the price OBJ
tanned was three or four times that
amount; but before picking time comes
the blight sweeps over the field. A few
berries turn a dirty yellow, before week
the whole bog has il bad. The cultiyator
surveys the spread out mass Of rotten
ness, pulls his hat over his eyes, jams his
hands into his pockets, and goes home TO
figure how he can economic enough TO
try some new experiments next year.
This scald business has kept up so long
that il IL becoming HOMOGENEOUS, aud not
the least remarkable popularity is the
fact that no living mortal has been able
10 find out preventive for the plague.
Every imaginable experiment was made |,
water has been let on and of sooner and
later than usual; all sorts Of fertilizers
we're tried, and many and many time il
was believed that the remedy had boon
found. Finally, Professor Taylor, the
United States Microscopist Of the Agri-
cultural Department at Washington, was
called in and he visited the Dogs here and
at Cape Cod, and spent weeks in probing
for the cause. His thorough investiga.