The Cranberry

Part 1

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Bradley’s Standard Fertilizers

FOR ALL CROPS.

Bradley’s Superphosphate. Bradley’s Potato Manure. BD Sea-Fowl Guano. Farmer’s New Method Fertilizer. Bradley’s Complete Manure for Vegetables. Bradley’s Complete Manure for Grain. Bradley’s Complete Manure for Grass. Bradley’s High Grade Tobacco Manure. Bradley’s Ground Bone and Potash. Bradley’s Fruit and Vine Fertilizer. English Lawn Fertilizer. Pure Fine Ground Bone and Bone Meal, Etc.

BRADLEY FERTILIZER COMPANY’S PUBLICATIONS.

BRADLEY’S AMERICAN FARMER, Illustrated. A concise treatise on growing all farm crops.

TOBACCO, Illustrated. How to grow, cure and market cigar wrapper tobacco.

BRADLEY’S FLORIDA BOOK, Illustrated. A treatise on growing Florida crops, and a description of our fertilizers prepared especially for that trade.

THE LAWN AND GARDEN. Hints on how to secure and keep a beautiful lawn and a flourishing garden.

THE CRANBERRY, Illustrated. Suggestions as to the preparation of bogs and selection of berries, modes of cultivation, picking, shipping, &c.

Any of the above publications sent free upon request to

Bradley Fertilizer Company, Boston, Mass. Branch Offices: Rochester, N. Y. Augusta, Ga.

The Cranberry

PUBLISHED BY BRADLEY FERTILIZER CO. BOSTON

WEST DENNIS, Mass., Oct. 19, 1891.

Having had the superintendency of preparing and setting to vines what is called the “Old Colony cranberry bog,” which contains about 25 acres, I have had occasion to use the different kinds of commercial fertilizers sold on the market, and of them all I now use the Bradley.

It has proved a great help in starting our new vines, giving them a vigorous growth and bringing the bog into bearing much earlier than would have been the case had Bradley’s fertilizer not been applied.

We think very highly of your fertilizer, and recommend its use by cranberry-growers generally. The photograph you have of our cranberry bog will give some idea of what we are doing.

REUBEN BAKER, Sup’t. R. A. BAKER, Treas.

Copyrighted by Bradley Fertiliser Co., 1892.

The Cranberry.

This book is not intended to be a scientific or elaborate treatise upon the Cranberry, but rather a book of practical suggestions, and a summary of helpful hints that may prove of benefit to those who undertake to grow this fruit.

The methods of growing Cranberries vary with localities and growers, and are undoubtedly in an experimental state at the present time. The original Cranberry grower was the owner of some wild and uncultivated patch where, in a natural condition, the berries (receiving no attention until picking time) were gathered “at halves,” meeting little or no market beyond the limits of the locality in which they grew.

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.

In order to do this, the grower may have to lay aside his preconceived notions as to the best methods of growing and fertilization, and possibly even discard some which have in years past been approved by leading growers. By a careful selection of varieties best adapted to each particular locality, or frequently by a larger increase in the depth of sand upon the bog, and then by the greatest care in all that pertains to the picking and packing of the fruit, he will be enabled to maintain for the Cape berries a foremost reputation as “keepers” among those who handle this valuable crop. Too little attention has heretofore been paid to this essential feature, and quantity rather than quality has been sought. When secured, the berries, as a general thing, are hurriedly packed at the bog, usually warm from the vines, and so, oft-times, they are almost ruined before reaching a market. This practice is largely responsible for the prejudice of some dealers against Cape berries.

Again, improved methods of cultivation by which an increased production, with improved quality, may be secured, are certainly desirable to every individual grower; though the present enormous crop would hardly seem to warrant a larger acreage, yet, at the same time, it behooves every grower to make as productive as possible (in view of the great expenditure) each acre already under cultivation.

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.

BRADLEY FERTILIZER CO.

Part 2

THE BOG.

It is popularly supposed that the Cranberry flourishes upon Cape Cod because of the salt sea sand of which the Cape is so largely composed. This theory, however, is erroneous, as it has been proved that even on Cape Cod the Cranberry will not flourish except under certain other favorable conditions.

The first inquiry, then, is, What kind of land is preferable for a bog? The best growers select a laurel, maple, or cedar swamp, so situated that it can be easily flowed with water at any time when this may seem necessary. 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; but, while there are some very fine dry Cranberry bogs of this description, if an early frost or the fire-worm strikes the crop at a vital time, it causes an entire failure, which could have been prevented had there been a chance of promptly flowing the bog.

HOW TO PREPARE A BOG.

The Cranberry bog is usually prepared in late fall, winter, or early spring, when the ground is partially frozen, as it is more easily cleared at this time, and cheaper labor is obtainable.

The first step in preparing the bog is to mow off, with a bush scythe, all the small brush and undergrowth. We are then ready to get rid of the trees. Experience has proved that the cheaper way is to cut the roots of the large trees, and then by means of tackle, in case they do not fall by their own weight, pull them over to the ground. This saves many days’ labor, which would be necessary if the trees were cut down above the ground and the stumps then dug out.

The refuse materials should be gathered into heaps, and, when dried, burned upon the bog; but great care is necessary in burning not to allow the moss and turf, of which the bog is composed, to get on fire; for when once fairly started, it is nearly impossible, except by flowing the bog, to extinguish the flames.

These first steps in clearing the bog must be done in the best possible manner, preferably by day labor, under the direct care of a watchful foreman, as the ultimate success of the Cranberry bog depends very largely upon the thoroughness with which all of the tree and bush roots are removed.

After the surface of the bog has been thoroughly cleaned off, it is cut into squares, about eighteen inches across, by means of a turf-axe, which is a thin, hatchet-shaped bladed implement, with a stout, hickory handle, about thirty inches long. This axe is utilized for cutting the tough, undergrowing roots, sure to be found just below the surface of the soil.

The usual method is to cut across the bog in parallel lines eighteen inches apart, and again at right angles in parallel lines in the same manner, thus leaving the turf in square blocks about eighteen inches square. Two men with long-handled, four-pronged bog-hooks follow the cutters, pulling over the turf, which, after the ditching is finished, should be chopped up, and so rendered suitable for making the surface as smooth as possible, when the work of final grading is completed.

We are now ready for ditching; the manner and methods necessary to secure the best possible drainage being subject, of course, to such varied conditions as to render it difficult to describe. But if there were but three essential features of special importance, two of them would be drainage.

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.

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