Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1888-08-09
CRANBERRY CULTURE.
The Most Profitable Way of Utilizing Wet
SpOngy Land.

| The Most Profitable Way of Utilizing Wet,
| Spongy Land.
| The cranberry is plant which
naturally grows on wet, spongy soils,
| but is also cultivated with moderate
success on dryer and firmer ones; on
heavy soils it has, however, proved a
failure. Therefore, if your meadow is
| of a heavy nature, it will not give as
| good returns as one containg more
vegetable matter. The aspect of your
meadow must be favorable, for it is of
great advantage to be at all times able
to submerge the cranberry patch I'M
der water. and the quicker this can be
| done the better the prospects of a good
crop will be. A sheet of water serves
| a two-fold purpose-namely, that of
protecting the plants from the frost
and from injurious insects. which are
very liable to attack the fruit and
vines. The meadow should be flooded
in the fall. when Jack Frost
makes his appearance, and kept
covered till late in spring. Dur
ing the poisoning time it should
however, be laid dry, for the water
destroys the pollen, and thereby the
crop for that season. The vine-worm,
or fire-worm, and the fruit-worm,
which affect these plants and their
fruit, are effectually destroyed if SUBJ
merged with water, and may, there
fore, be successfully overcome by food
ing the plot; but, as their ravages are
great, rapid submersion is required.
A valuable cranberry patch may be
prepared from a swampy place by lev
cling its surface, cleaning it from grass
weeds, and covering it with two to four
inches of pure sand, ditching it to low
err the water to twelve or eighteen
inches below the surface, and planting
it with cranberry plants. These are
generally set out with a dibble, and the
soil firmly trampled around the plant;
but sometimes cuttings are taken, one
end of which is simply pressed
down by some blunt instrument,
through the sand to the under
lying mucky soil. The plants are
placed in rows, from one to two feet
apart each way. All the plants should
reach the former surface of the plot,
and if planted in a slanting position,
so much the better. The plot should
be kept cultivated for year or two,
or until the cranberry plants have
taken complete possession of the soil.
The cuttings may be preserved for a
long time if packed with wet moss in
boxes and preserved in cellar, or if
covered with earth in a shady place.
If dry, they should be soaked in
water before planting, which COM
pletely refreshes them. They strike
root very easily at the joints which
come in contact with the soil. Plant
ing is not specially confined to one
portion of the year, but may be sue
cessfully done in fall or spring; the
end of June is the limit for spring
planting, and the approach of cool
weather marks the commencement of
the autumn planting. The sand is
used to prevent the growth of weeds,
to retard the too-luxuriant growth of
the plants, and to increase their pro-
ductiveness. 1t is easiest applied on
the ice in winter. The dam at the
lower part of the patch should be high
enough to allow the plot to be covered
eighteen inches deep with water, and
should have food-gates where the
bitches cross it. The cultivation is
generally most economically done with
a wheel-hoe, for horses can rarely
work them. They require no fertiliz-
ers, and the cost of picking has been
estimated at so cents per bushel.
There is a great difference in varieties,
and only such should be planted as
have proven themselves worthy in
some other patch. There is good de-
mand for large, well-colored berries.
at prices ranging from 81 to 81. so per
bushel. The fruit, being picked. should
be placed, few inches deep, on
shelves, and stirred frequently to ex-
pose all of them to the light, which
gives them a fine color. They are then
run over tanning mill to separate
them from all foreign substances, after
which the small and worthless berries
are picked out.-FIdrnaerS' Adgocate.