4th Lesson 6 Fruit of the Bog

1 The first people known to eat cranberries were the Native Americans in northern regions of what is now the United States. Centuries before the Pilgrims arrived in 1620, Native Americans ate a bread made with cranberries mashed into cornmeal. They also munched on dried cranberries throughout the winter. But cranberries were useful for more than just food. Native Americans made dye from the berries to color blankets and rugs. And, they used the berries as a medicine for the treatment of wounds.

2 In 1810, Henry Hall from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, became the first person known to cultivate cranberries. (The word cultivate means “to grow as a farm crop.”) Cranberries grow only in particular conditions. They grow best in bogs. They need an acid, peat soil, a steady water supply, and a covering of sand. The growing season must last from April to November, followed by a dormant period in the winter. The winter chill is needed for the fruit buds to mature.

3 Do you know how cranberry farmers know when the berries are ripe and ready to harvest? The small berries float to the surface of the bog and bob along there. The farmers are able to pull off this nifty harvest trick because inside each berry is a tiny pocket of air.

4 For years, the number-one cranberry-producing state in the United States was Massachusetts. However, since 1995, the state of Wisconsin has been the top cranberry producer. In 2010, Wisconsin harvested more than 4 million barrels of cranberries.

Using information from your chart, explain your inferences about growing conditions in Massachusetts and Wisconsin. Use details from the passage to support your response.