62 BLOSSOMING TIME—PRECAUTIONS.
and it is rarely or ever found on the runners, but in
variably on the spears or stems which are thrown up
from the creepers.
There are about this time some precautions required;
but they are more needed in some parts of the country
than in others.
Districts in which there are cranberry yards, which
are liable to be visited by frost late in the spring, call
for especial care from the cultivator. If his vines
blossom too soon, they will most probably be killed
by the frost, or at most he will have but a scanty crop.
The vines may, in the blossoming season, present an
abundance of flowers, and a night of frost cut them
off. In other regions where they are not so likely to
suffer from this cause, the same precautions are not
demanded.
Here, and in cases of the kind just named, the advantage of flooding is apparent. Those who can flood
their vines, can retard the blossom, or keep it back
until they think their vines are not likely to suffer by
frost. The practice generally followed is, to keep the
water over the vines till the last of May or middle of
June, and then draw it off. The sooner the water is
drained from the yard, the vines will blossom all the
earlier for it; but that would be no advantage when
frost has not entirely disappeared from that locality
62 BLOSSOMING TIME—PRECAUTIONS.
and it is rarely or ever found on the runners, but in
variably on the spears or stems which are thrown up
from the creepers.
There are about this time some precautions required;
but they are more needed in some parts of the country
than in others.
Districts in which there are cranberry yards, which
are liable to be visited by frost late in the spring, call
for especial care from the cultivator. If his vines
blossom too soon, they will most probably be killed
by the frost, or at most he will have but a scanty crop.
The vines may, in the blossoming season, present an
abundance of flowers, and a night of frost cut them
off. In other regions where they are not so likely to
suffer from this cause, the same precautions are not
demanded.
Here, and in cases of the kind just named, the advantage of flooding is apparent. Those who can flood
their vines, can retard the blossom, or keep it back
until they think their vines are not likely to suffer by
frost. The practice generally followed is, to keep the
water over the vines till the last of May or middle of
June, and then draw it off. The sooner the water is
drained from the yard, the vines will blossom all the
earlier for it; but that would be no advantage when
frost has not entirely disappeared from that locality
