alue may reach
many thousands of dollars, while the original cost of the land may
have been merely nominal.

Large portions of Jackson, Wood, Monroe, Marinette, Juneau, and Green
counties are natural cranberry marshes. The Wisconsin Valley division
of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway runs through a closely
continuous marsh, forty miles long and nearly as wide, as level as a
floor, which is an almost unbroken series of cranberry farms. The
Indians, who inhabited this country before the white man came, used to
congregate here every fall, many of them traveling several hundred
miles, to lay in their winter supply of berries. Many thousands of
barrels are now annually shipped from this region; and thus this vast
area, which to the stranger looking upon it would appear utterly
worthless, is as valuable as the richest farming lands in the State.

In a few instances, however, this fruit is cultivated in Wisconsin in
a style similar to that practiced in the East; that is, by paring the
natural sod from the bog, covering the earth to a depth of two or
three inches with sand, and then transplanting the vines into soil
thus prepared. The weeds are then kept down for a year or two, when
the vines take full possession of the soil, and further attention is
unnecessary. The natural "stand" of the vines in the sod is so
productive, however, and the extent of country over which bountiful
nature has distributed them so vast, that few operators have thought
it necessary to incur the expense of special culture.

One of the best and most perfectly equipped marshes in Wisconsin is
owned by Mr. G.B. Sackett, of Berlin. It is situated four miles north
of that village, and comprises 1,600 acres, nearly all of which is a
veritable bog, and is covered with a natural and luxuriant growth of
cranberry vines. A canal has been cut from the Fox River to the
southern limit of the marsh, a distance of 4,400 ft. It is 45 ft.
wide, and the water stands in it to a depth of nine feet, sufficient
to float fair sized steamboats. At the intersection of the canal with
the marsh steam water works have been erected, with flood gates and
dams by means of which the entire marsh may be flooded to a depth of a
foot or more when desired. There are two engines of 150 horse power
each, and two pumps that are capable of raising 80,000 gallons per
minute.

When, in early autumn, the meteorological conditions indicate the
approach of frost, the pumps may he p