I. Introduction:
From a small, native fruit to a multi-million dollar industry

The American cranberry, Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait., is one of only three commercially cultivated fruits indigenous to North America, sharing this distinction with blueberry and Concord grape (Thomas 1990). The cranberry industry in Massachusetts is the leading agricultural food crop in the state with 1997 revenues of approximately $100 million. Massachusetts produces 35% of the world's cranberries; Plymouth and Barnstable counties produce over 90% of the cranberries in Massachusetts (Cape Cod Cranberry Grower's Association 1997 ). The cranberry's commercial success is impressive for a fruit that wasn't even cultivated until 1816. A sharp-eyed Cape Codder, Henry Hall, noticed that wild cranberries covered by a layer of windblown sand produced more abundantly than usual. Imitating nature, he "sanded" a plot of cranberry vines himself -- and an industry was born (Thomas 1990).

A true native North American plant, Vaccinium macrocarpon has grown wild in New England peatlands for centuries. Native Americans gathered cranberries for food, medicine, dye, and ceremonial use. They introduced the berry to the Pilgrims who quickly appreciated its versatility and taste. The colonists incorporated cranberries into their diet and culture. New Englanders diligently harvested wild cranberries from natural bogs for close to two hundred years before cranberry cultivation began in Dennis, MA, in the first quarter of the nineteenth century (Eck 1990, Burrows 1976).

Cranberry production literally is rooted in the sands of Cape Cod and Southeastern Mass. Cranberries thrive in peat-based wetlands underlain by glacial till. The geology and climate of Cape Cod and the surrounding area provide all of the major growing conditions for cranberries: 1) a base of acidic, peaty soil, 2) a surface layer of sand, 3) sufficient freshwater, and 4) a moderate, moist summer climate devoid of killing frosts (Joseph 1990). Cranberry bog requirements have remained essentially unchanged since the early days of cranberry cultivation (Fawsett 1990), but management practices and technology have created enormous gains in productivity (Eck 1990). The yield per acre has burgeoned from roughly 20 barrels per acre in 1900 to more than 140 barrels per acre in 1997 (USDA 1998).