History

Cranberry-culture began about a century ago in Massachusetts on the Cape Cod Peninsula. William Kenrick, writing in 1832 in the "Orchardist," says that "Capt. Henry Hall, of Barnstable, has cultivated the cranberry twenty years;" "Mr. F. A. Hayden, of Lincoln, Massachusetts, is stated to have gathered from his farm in 1830, 400 bushels of cranberries, which brought him in Boston market $600." In the second and subsequent editions, Kenrick makes the figure $400. It is not said whether Hayden's berries were wild or cultivated. At the present day, with all the increase in production, prices are higher than those received by Hayden. In the third (1841) and subsequent editions, it is said that "an acre of cranberries in full bearing will produce over 200 bushels; and the fruit generally sells, in the markets of Boston, for $1.50 per bushel, and much higher than in former years." It was as late as 1850, however, that cranberry-culture gained much prominence. It was in 1856 that the first treatise appeared: B. Eastwood's "Complete Manual for the Cultivation of the Cranberry." About 1845, cranberry-culture began to establish itself in New Jersey.

The culture of cranberries began in Nova Scotia about thirty years ago. The first attempt consisted in improving some of the patches of wild berries found growing around the central district of the Annapolis Valley. Gradually the idea was entertained of planting new areas, and as this proved successful the new industry was soon fairly established. Farmers in the vicinity of Auburn soon took up the industry, and in the fall of 1892 the first carload of cranberries was shipped to Montreal. Since then, Nova Scotia cran- -berries have met with a ready sale throughout Canada.

Fig. 1094. Cranberry scoop, sometimes used in picking the berries.

Literature

The standard books on the cultivation of cranberries are Webb's "Cape Cod Cranberries," and "Cranberry-Culture," by Joseph J. White; these are old books and in many respects out-of-date. The best literature on the subject is to be found in the various publications of the United States Department of Agriculture, the bulletins of the agricultural experiment stations of New Jersey, Wisconsin and Massachusetts, the proceedings of the American Cranberry Growers' Association which have been published biennially since 1880, the reports of the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers' Association, and the reports of the Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers' Association.

Elizabeth C. White.

Cranberry Tree

: High-bush cranberry, Viburnum Opulus.