“ By common consent, therefore, the leading growers are large users of Bradley’s Superphosphate, as they are convinced that its liberal use upon their bogs is repaid to them every season in increased crops of perfect fruit which commands the highest market price. ”

“ A dam must be built at the lower end of the bog, in such a manner as seems necessary from the location and force of the water running through the main ditch. If the main ditch is a brook which carries a large amount of surplus water, the dam must be very strongly and thoroughly built; but if, on the other hand, it is simply a ditch filled by springs or small brooks found in the bog, a simple dam can be thrown up at slight cost; although care must be taken to make it strong enough, so that the high water in winter or spring will not carry it away and leave the vines unprotected from the frost. ”

“ The sand used on a Cranberry bog should be absolutely free from either clay or loam, for if it contain either it will, in the one case, under the action of sun and water, form a hard surface in which the vines will not thrive, or in the other, if there is much loam intermixed, it will contain weed seeds, which will prove a detriment to the bog. Sand can generally be found in the immediate vicinity of the bog, and should preferably be coarse rather than fine in quality. ”

“ They select a swamp in preference to a meadow, because it is found in practice that a meadow always produces considerable coarse grass detrimental to the crop, which does not grow in the swamps.
Again, it is proved that a swamp on which wood has grown has a better bottom than the average meadow, as it is largely composed of decayed foliage, which has for many years dropped from the trees, and has gradually become a rich, friable soil, usually free from either weeds or grass.
Some growers believe that it is not essential to have the bog so situated that it can be covered by water ”

“ The water is then let out of the ditches, and the vines take care of themselves through the ensuing season, unless it happens to be a particularly dry summer. If so, once or twice, through the dryest of the season, the water should be dammed back for a few days, and the vines receive the benefit of the irrigation. They will not need any further care during the first season, unless there is a growth of weeds, which should be effectually destroyed.
A cleanly, well-kept bog is not only a beautiful sight, but is the foundation for large returns in the future ”

“ There is a wide division of opinion in regard to what is the best berry to grow; the shrewdest growers find that a selection of berries, running from the very early to the very late berry, gives the best returns when a series of years is taken into account. ”

“ The modern grower has found the application of improved methods of cultivation and fertilization to pay liberally with the Cranberry, as with every other crop, and it should be his endeavor, through all available methods, to reduce the cost of growing and increase the yield of berries per acre, giving special attention to such culture as may the better secure the keeping quality of the fruit. ”

“ Until within a few years the Cranberry bog has had to depend upon its own resources for fertilization, as it was popularly supposed that a bog contained all the necessary nutriment to feed the growing crop. Careful investigation by the most successful growers has led them to believe that, in common with every other farm crop, a larger crop of finer quality of fruit can be grown per acre, if a good commercial fertilizer is used upon the Cranberry. ”

“ All of the ditches should be dug with flaring banks, so as to prevent caving in of the sides of the ditch, and thus making constant trouble. A ditch, in any case, around the entire bog is an essential feature in drainage, and to carry-off the cold surface water, as well as a preventive of much difficulty in cultivation, etc. ”

“ So marked is this effect, that if any one having a Cranberry bog will fertilize [Pg 19] a small section of it for one season, at the rate of 200 to 400 pounds of Bradley’s Phosphate to the acre, he will always use this fertilizer thereafter, as the results will readily prove that it will pay him liberally to do so.
Another reason for fertilization is, that, through a liberal use of Bradley’s Superphosphate, the young plants attain that sturdy growth which enables them to withstand more successfully the attacks of the fire, fruit, and span worm, which flourish best upon weak plants. ”

“ But the grower often thinks that this is unnecessary labor, especially as he has put considerable money into the bog, and as yet has had no returns from his investment. If this work is neglected now, when the bog comes to fruiting there will be found, especially among the plants, quite an amount of injurious weeds and small bushes which increase rapidly from year to year, and finally kill out the bog. ”

“ Professor Johnson, Director of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, and one of the best authorities on agricultural chemistry of this country, has said: “In honest truth, there is no possibility of compounding special fertilizers adapted to each of our various crops, nor even to our various classes of crops. ”

“ The Cranberry is propagated, through the means of vines which are procured from old bogs; they are cut or mowed off, preferably from vines not more than three or four years old. In sorting these cuttings, care should be taken to remove all the dead wood, and only the bright, clean cuttings used for planting. Most growers estimate five barrels of cuttings to the acre of bog, as they use from four to six cuttings in each setting. Some growers prefer taking runners twenty to thirty inches in length, and doubling them over at time of planting ”

“ If the bog is of large size, and a large amount of water is needed, of course a larger and more substantial dam must be built. The accompanying illustration gives a section of a turf dam, preferably about fifteen feet wide at the bottom by ten feet at the top, constructed of turf, and sand or clay, in such a manner as to be absolutely safe. ”

“ It is a comparatively easy matter under the more favorable conditions, during the three years before the bog comes to full bearing, to go over it once or twice during each season with a hoe, and clean out every weed and bush, no matter how small and insignificant it make look. ”

“ The result is that a larger crop of richer-colored berries is secured, which will more successfully withstand handling and shipping. The vines are also so stimulated that the crop ripens much earlier, and very often a saving of hundreds of dollars will be made, through the grower being able to gather the berries early in the season, before the frost comes. ”

“ Lines are drawn across the bog, from eight to twenty feet apart, as a guide for keeping in place those pickers [Pg 23] who incline otherwise to the right or left, as “spots” thick or thin allure or repel them in their eagerness “to fill the measure.” Then, placing as many pickers within the lines as can have sufficient “elbow room,” picking length-wise, they proceed to pick.
An overseer is needed for every twenty-five pickers, to see that the work is properly done, each in his or her own place, and that all are picking clean from the vines, and from the “bottom;” ”

“ It will be seen that the walls slope from the foundation to the top, and are composed outside of layers of turf, so laid one upon the other that the joints are broken and a solid wall is made, between which is filled in a mass of stone, clay, and sand, thoroughly tamped down so as to make a firm structure in the centre of the dam. ”

“ I have used Bradley’s Fertilizer for growing cranberries, and find it very beneficial. New vines come to bearing one year earlier by its use, and grass and weeds are crowded out, and do not get the foothold they are apt to where vines grow slowly, and are a long while covering the ground. ”

“ Again, others provide themselves with a large amount of dimes, and so “pay off” as each measure is delivered. Berries, after being picked, should be put in slatted boxes holding about one bushel each, as being the most convenient size to handle, and then put away for at least twenty-four hours to cool off, as prevention against the almost immediate process of decay if this is not done. ”

“ The matter here presented is the result of thorough investigation into the methods of cultivation as practised by the most successful growers, and we believe it presents facts to the grower which will prove well worthy of his careful attention. ”