Below you'll find a paragraph from an article written in the 1849 issue of The New England Farmer. The reason I'm sharing this tidbit is because of the various methods mentioned in preserving cranberries.
We have been in the habit of leaving a considerable portion of the fruit of the cranberry on the vines during the winter. We find it keeps well, and ean bo taken fresh from the vines, when wanted. The cranberries I send you were taken from my bed yesterday, and you will pereeive a plumpness artd freshness not to be found in those dried in garrets, or drowned in water, in cellars. Those persons, who have had much experience in the cultivation of native plants, found growing in swampy or very wet land, will have noticed that some of them will bear a removal, and more readily accommodate themselves to a comparatively dry soil, than others. And I am inclined to think the cranberry is disposed, when removed to our gardens, and a suitable reception is prepared for it, to accommodate itself to its new loeation. But in order to completely naturalize it, and render it at home, we should produce plants from seeds taken from specimens under cultivation. I ean see no obstacle in the way of complete success, in the cultivation of the cranberry, provided the same eare and skill is bestowed upon it, that is rendered to other fruit.
Yes! I also found a 19th century passage from some farmer proclaiming that he felt cranberries could be grown on dry land. Don't recall where it was...
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure when farming cranberries on a large scale began, but it could probably be found with a little research. May make a nice article.