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.
To spread the sand over the bog, lay down a course of plank, over
which the sand can be wheeled in barrows and so dumped, from this
plank-walk, as to make the level spreading thereof a matter of little
labor; shift the plank about four feet from that portion already
covered, and dump to right and left as before; enough should be
brought on to give an even coating of from four to five inches, and
it may be smoothed by a lawn rake, or a leveller made of one-inch
board, about a foot and a half long, by three or four inches wide,
with a rake handle fastened in the centre of the board.
When the sand has been evenly spread over the bog, it is ready to
be marked off. This is generally done by using an improvised rake
or “marker,” made of a piece of 2 by 4 inch joist, seven to ten feet
long, with white-oak teeth eight inches long, set eighteen inches
apart, the whole finished with a handle for easy working. This rake
is usually run parallel with some straight ditch, or along one side
of a bog in a straight line, so that when set in vines it may present
a uniform appearance. But as, in the case of corn, “more grows in
crooked rows than straight ones,” this may be left to taste and
convenience; again cross-marking at right angles, and you are ready
for setting the vines.
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NEWPORT, R.I., Oct. 26, 1891.
I have used Bradley’s Fertilizer on my cranberry bog twice, and
find a great improvement in checking the growth of moss, also
in starting the vines. In fact, I think it made the vines grow
too fast, or I may have put on too much. I can recommend it as a
first-class Fertilizer.
H. B. RYDER,
17 Harvard Ave.
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NORTH HARWICH, MASS., Oct. 19, 1891.
I have used Bradley’s Fertilizer on my cranberry bogs, both old
and new, the past three or four years, with highly satisfactory
results. It adds to the growth of new vines, so that they cover the
ground quicker, and come into bearing one or two years earlier than
they would were there no fertilizer applied.
On my old vines the effect of this Fertilizer has been to kill out
the moss (burn it up, to appearance), and to so renew the vines as
to give them the look of a young bog.