The record-union., 1896-03-21
HOW THE CRANBERRY GROWS
Cultivatfng the Delicious Berries by
the Great lakes

Cultivatfng the Delicious Berries by
the Great Lakes.
The cranberry is native to cold, messy
bogS, such as lie on the sandy slopes of
| the Atlantic States and about the up
per Great Lakes. Where cold waters
| flow slowly through sands, bogS arise.
| BY the growth of ages pond fills with
vegetation and becomes a peat bog.
| the lower vegetation decaying under
| water, forming peat From the tangle
| of laurel, fern and sphagnum of the
| surface the change is gradual through
dense masses of wiry stems of the true
| peat lying twenty or thirty feet below.
| In some of the bogs in Southern New
Jersey forests are buried. The bog sus
| tains many hardy perennial shrubs,
often heath-like plants, with great
! quantity of whitish coral-like moss
called sphagnum, growing upward from
| it's decaying base. This vegetation holds
slow moving waters like a sponge, and
on its upper portions the cranberry,
| which is a sort of heather, fiourishes
| in company with sheep laurel, ferns,
rushes and saplings. The first step in
cranberry culture is to shave off from
| two to four feet of this surface. This
process, called turfing-it is strictly un-
| turfing-is followed by drainage. Ditch
| es are dug at intervals of about five
rods surface of sand is next spread
over the top. The white lifeless sand
| Of the Massachusetts, coast seems best
suited, and in this warm bed the cut
| tings are stuck, sometimes at regular
| intervals, sometimes sown broadcast
| and narrowed under
| The first two years is a struggle with
weeds; by the third the cranberry gets
ahead and keeps so. After the third
year they come to bearing. The plant is
one of the beautiful allies of the heath
ers-a wiry, slender shrub, perennial
and trailing, but miscalled vine. 1t
continues to bear from fifteen to twenty
years, and can be moved for pruning.
Cultivation consists chiefly in protection
from the frosts, and in dry seasons in
moistening the lower part of the bed.
This includes a system of irrigating
ponds, dikes, gates, ETC., of no small
extent In winter the bogs are laid un-
der two feet of water to protect the
vines from being winter-killed, and
they become frozen lakes. In spring
they are drained off, but there is anxi-
ETY. until June 10th on account of the
1
set. Small bogs can be flooded soon
enough to be protected against sudden
frost, but this is not practicable on the
large systems, which depend on water
several miles distant
The initial expense of thus preparing
the surface and the maintenance of the
irrigation works call for considerable
outlay of capital But few investments
4 - in
less careful and experienced hands than
those of Mr.. Makepeace cranberry cult
ure is very profitable. In his three sys-
TENS of bogs, covering, I believe, a
square mile, he has shipped in one year
above 2S,000 barrels. At his head
quarters, near Carver where he resides
with his wife during the harvesting,
three young women are busy with the
books, of whom it would be hard to say
whether their capability exceeds their
| amiability This fall a business of
| $75,0 will pass under their skillful
hands The crop is very good. On the
compact carpet of rich, dark leaves and
crimson fruit the foot presses hundreds
of berries at each step. An acre where
l stood would give 100 barrels, and an
other will yield 150 Yet Mr.. Make
| peace cautiously allows an average of
| twenty-five for period of five years.
This allows for frosts, firebugs and the
| countless other bugs which have ap-
| peared or may yet appear.
| The only competing area in the United
States is in New Jedsey, which stands
second, and in Wisconsin, where frosts
have reduced the profitableness to mar
row margin. Hailstorms sometimes
pick the ripe fruit, and in few minutes
| lay it low-Springfield Union.