38 PREPARING SOILS.
kept down. It will thus be clear to the reader, that
in such a situation, the plant can throw out its runners
in every direction, and having no weed to contend
against, will therefore spread rapidly, and soon become
matted, a condition of the yard towards which the prac-
ti cal man looks with anxiety. If you are about to make
the attempt to cultivate the cranberry, if possible, obtain beach sand in which to set out your vines; or
coarse sand when the former cannot be obtained, but
the white is preferred.
Peat is found to be excellent, in fact, nexJLilLvalne
andTlmpoftance to the beach sand, for the growth of
cranberries. But peat wants management and care in
its preparation, in orderlo"be~made useful to the vine.
In selecting a peat swamp to be converted into a cranberry patch, it is necessary to take off the top turf, or
grass, and if possible give the yard a little incline.
When this is done, it is unsafe to plant at once. If
you do so, you will find that the peat will in the following summer cake and crack. It will be hard on the
surface, and some few inches below stiff and dry.
The veriest tyro in cranberry cultivation knows that
such a condition is very bad for the vine.
How is this difficulty obviated? Prepare the surface
as we have stated above, and leave the yard exposed
to the frost and weather for one year. When the frost
is thawed out of it, it will crumble and be powdery.
38 PREPARING SOILS.
kept down. It will thus be clear to the reader, that
in such a situation, the plant can throw out its runners
in every direction, and having no weed to contend
against, will therefore spread rapidly, and soon become
matted, a condition of the yard towards which the prac-
ti cal man looks with anxiety. If you are about to make
the attempt to cultivate the cranberry, if possible, obtain beach sand in which to set out your vines; or
coarse sand when the former cannot be obtained, but
the white is preferred.
Peat is found to be excellent, in fact, nexJLilLvalne
andTlmpoftance to the beach sand, for the growth of
cranberries. But peat wants management and care in
its preparation, in orderlo"be~made useful to the vine.
In selecting a peat swamp to be converted into a cranberry patch, it is necessary to take off the top turf, or
grass, and if possible give the yard a little incline.
When this is done, it is unsafe to plant at once. If
you do so, you will find that the peat will in the following summer cake and crack. It will be hard on the
surface, and some few inches below stiff and dry.
The veriest tyro in cranberry cultivation knows that
such a condition is very bad for the vine.
How is this difficulty obviated? Prepare the surface
as we have stated above, and leave the yard exposed
to the frost and weather for one year. When the frost
is thawed out of it, it will crumble and be powdery.
