WAY | UP HIGH goes this ‘pyramid of students
from Clarence Michiel Sehoal taking part in the

school Christmas ‘concert last weols,

-bltter berry.

in 1 North nies ae

~ Cranberries are one of the
few fruits ‘indigenous ‘to North
Ameriea,. and they played an ime
portant role in the Lives of early
settlers, They were, used as
dye, in poultices, as a symbol of
peace and a8 a Staple food that
supplied vitamin C, though it is
doubtful whether the pioneers
knew that.

Micmac Indians in Eastern
Canada called an area where bore
vies flourished .. Shenacadia,
meaning place of cranberries,
Pequota In Cape Cod and Leni.
Lanape tribes in southern New
Jersey called” them. {bimi or
The. name that
has; survived. was the name used
by Massachusetts settlers, They
called them crané bérrigs, bee
cause the blossoma resemble the
head of a crane, and ‘the birds
fed on the berries,

; @n-@.0 8

An early, account describes
fishermen’s families inthe Gaspe
and northern Gulf. of St. Lavwe
rence shore gatherfrig low’ bush
cranberries, The“frult * waa
taken to sea because it kept well
and because it was discovered to
be a scurvy preventive,”

Ik is sald a. barrel from: a
shipwreck off the coast of The
Netherlands was washed ashore
on the island* of Terschelling
and started the first wild crane.
berry bog outside Nerth America,
' Wild cranberries were evert.

ally found growing all acrosd
Canada, Originally nothing more
was done about cultivating them
than to improve the coriditions of
the bogs where they were found,

‘Commercial cultivation is
fairly recent, says a release
from Ocean Spray of Canada, and
has been carried on largely In
the: areas in which the fruit was
found, because they, ' have the best
growing eondltions, _

. ; |
To build a cranberry bog, low

lying marshland is. . dratned,.

Cleared, levelled and spread with
-& layer of sand, . Vine -cuttings

are. planted about ‘six ‘Inches
apart, I takes from three to
five years for the vines to spread

and carpet. the area and Produce
‘thelr first crop...

«Cranberry vines," if they are
protected, will’. produce - indef.
initely. .Some are known to be

more than.100 years old,

extend to you -