Cranberries

Cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon), native to bogs and swamps of the northeastern United States and adjacent parts of Canada, were cultivated by Native Americans long before white settlers arrived. Commercial farming, by management of native stands, began early in the nineteenth century on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The plant enjoys cool summers and requires soils that are very acidic, sandy, moist, and rich in humus. Suitable sites, which have also been developed in Wisconsin and the Pacific Northwest, are furnished with dikes and drainage ditches for water management, important for periodically flooding fields for winter cold protection, harvest, and irrigation.