Cape Cod and the Old colony . ston and Providence. It would not be easy to find a better adap-tation of natures conditions to a crop that onesees in the cranberry. The Old Colony gotfrom the glacial invasion and the resultingbreak-up of old drainage lines, more than itsshare of swampy flats. It is usually easy tofind a sand bank in neighborly relation to thebog, and exposure to oceanic influences hasgiven a longer season without killing froststhan is found in most parts of the northernstates. To be able to flood the field, to dressit with sand and to have a long growing sea-son—these are the t
Cape Cod and the Old colony . ston and Providence. It would not be easy to find a better adap-tation of natures conditions to a crop that onesees in the cranberry. The Old Colony gotfrom the glacial invasion and the resultingbreak-up of old drainage lines, more than itsshare of swampy flats. It is usually easy tofind a sand bank in neighborly relation to thebog, and exposure to oceanic influences hasgiven a longer season without killing froststhan is found in most parts of the northernstates. To be able to flood the field, to dressit with sand and to have a long growing sea-son—these are the three essentials of cranberryculture. It is not an old industry. There was anaccidental discovery, early in the last century,in North Dennis. Sand blew in on a patch ofwild cranberries and showed what it could dofor them. The real culture of the berry beganin 1846 and 1847 at Pleasant Lake in Harwichand apparently there is no town on the Capewhich is more dotted with the bogs or morepervaded by a kind of cranberry atmosphere. E < On the Land 153 than this same old Harwich. If Harwich hasrivals in the frequency of lakes and abundanceof swamps, they are Yarmouth and Barnstableand all three are great cranberry towns. Thereare many in Brewster and Dennis, some inOrleans, and not many in Chatham. West ofBarnstable, the crop is in moderate propor-tions, I in Mashpee, Falmouth, Sandwich andBourne, and then come the great areas and in-numerable bogs of Plymouth County. All theMassachusetts cranberries pass in the commonthought as Cape Cod product, though more aregrown in Plymouth than in Barnstable. A Reverend Mr. Eastman of North Dennispublished a book on the cranberry and its cul-tivation. Cuttings were sent thence to NewJersey to start the culture there. Wild cran-berries were used in times before its commer-cial development, for there was a ruling as farback as 1750 that no bayberries should begathered until September 10, and no cran-berries, wild berries of course, until Octob
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