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; but the former seems to be the generally adopted method.
The usual method of planting is by using a “dibble,” or
setting-blade, made from hard wood, although one of the shrewdest
growers has recently adopted an implement consisting of an iron
blade, with a cross-piece handle of wood. He claims that this is
far preferable to any wooden instrument, and always readily presses
through the sand, although it is not sharp enough to cut the vines.
In planting, a bunch of four or six runners is placed upon the sand
at every intersecting corner. This bunch is held in the left hand of
the planter, while with his right hand he presses them into the sand
by means of the “dibble,” so that they will reach through to the soil
beneath, and when planted will not come above the surface more than
two inches. The accompanying sketch shows the method of planting.
[Illustration:
A A is the main ditch encircling the bog.
B B is the central ditch.
C C are the cross-ditches draining into main and central ditches.
D D are the lines made by the marker.
E E show points at which plants are set.
]
About two weeks after the cuttings are set, a small handful of
Bradley’s Superphosphate should be scattered around each bunch of
cuttings, as this will cause them to grow with great vigor, and so
stimulate their growth that few if any of the cuttings will die;
sometimes not one in a hundred will fail to make a flourishing set.
It is a little more work, but advisable, to put the fertilizer in the
hill, just under the sand.
Some growers prefer, after the bog is planted, to keep the ground
wet by damming back the water to within six or eight inches of
the surface of the bog, and keeping it here until the vines give
signs of having made some growth. 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; it requires no little
care, during the first year or two, on the best of bogs to secure the
proper money return, in order that the unavoidable outlay heretofore
outlined may be rendered remunerative. Four hundred dollars per acre
is no unusual amount to be expended in preparing a bog.