THE DAM.
A dam must be built at the lower end of the bog, in such a manner as seems necessary from the location and force of the water running through the main ditch. If the main ditch is a brook which carries a large amount of surplus water, the dam must be very strongly and thoroughly built; but if, on the other hand, it is simply a ditch filled by springs or small brooks found in the bog, a simple dam can be thrown up at slight cost; although care must be taken to make it strong enough, so that the high water in winter or spring will not carry it away and leave the vines unprotected from the frost. If the bog is of large size, and a large amount of water is needed, of course a larger and more substantial dam must be built. The accompanying illustration gives a section of a turf dam, preferably about fifteen feet wide at the bottom by ten feet at the top, constructed of turf, and sand or clay, in such a manner as to be absolutely safe.
It will be seen that the walls slope from the foundation to the top, and are composed outside of layers of turf, so laid one upon the other that the joints are broken and a solid wall is made, between which is filled in a mass of stone, clay, and sand, thoroughly tamped down so as to make a firm structure in the centre of the dam. At the end of the main ditch should be constructed a water-course or flume, preferably of two-inch plank, with a waste-gate that can be raised or lowered as the supply of water may be needed or allowed to run to waste. This is simply made of plank, with an oak joist for a lever, which, used as a pry, easily opens the gate.
THE SANDING.
The sand used on a Cranberry bog should be absolutely free from either clay or loam, for if it contain either it will, in the one case, under the action of sun and water, form a hard surface in which the vines will not thrive, or in the other, if there is much loam intermixed, it will contain weed seeds, which will prove a detriment to the bog. Sand can generally be found in the immediate vicinity of the bog, and should preferably be coarse rather than fine in quality.
To spread the sand over the bog, lay down a course of plank, over which the sand can be wheeled in barrows and so dumped, from this plank-walk, as to make the level spreading thereof a matter of little labor; shift the plank about four feet from that portion already covered, and dump to right and left as before; enough should be brought on to give an even coating of from four to five inches, and it may be smoothed by a lawn rake, or a leveller made of one-inch board, about a foot and a half long, by three or four inches wide, with a rake handle fastened in the centre of the board.
When the sand has been evenly spread over the bog, it is ready to be marked off. This is generally done by using an improvised rake or “marker,” made of a piece of 2 by 4 inch joist, seven to ten feet long, with white-oak teeth eight inches long, set eighteen inches apart, the whole finished with a handle for easy working. This rake is usually run parallel with some straight ditch, or along one side of a bog in a straight line, so that when set in vines it may present a uniform appearance. But as, in the case of corn, “more grows in crooked rows than straight ones,” this may be left to taste and convenience; again cross-marking at right angles, and you are ready for setting the vines.