44 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Scotia and New Brunswick, and that vicinity, where it bears 

 very abundantly, and along the St. John's River, to a great dis- 

 tance from its mouth. It is met with in some parts of Massa- 

 chusetts also. I observed it in the swamps of Provincetown, 

 where it is called the " spice cranberry." It is imported into 

 England, from Sweden and the north of Europe, in large 

 quantities, and though with us it would be considered as far 

 inferior to our common cranberry, it is more esteemed by many. 



In Sweden, it was formerly common to boil silver plate in 

 the acid juice of this berry, that it might eat off the minute 

 particles of copper alloy. 



The common American cranberry is a native of North 

 America. It grows and flourishes in mossy swamps and bogs, 

 as well as on sandy soils, from high northern latitudes, to 

 North Carolina on the south, and to Minnesota on the west, 

 where it produces very abundantly every other year, and is not 

 excelled in size or flavor by cranberries in any part of the 

 country. It is bought in large quantities of the Indians. 



The stem of this species is larger than that of the small 

 cranberry just described, and is commonly from a foot, to four 

 or five feet in length. It is sometimes much longer than that. 

 I have seen it from twelve to fifteen feet in length, throwing up 

 many rising branches, sometimes to the height of eight or ten 

 inches. The leaves are about one-half an inch long and nearly 

 one-fourth of an inch broad, the second year, when full grown. 

 On the new spring branches, which bear the flowers and berries, 

 they are crowded towards the top. They are of an oblong, 

 oval shape, the margin curved back, divided in the middle above 

 and beneath by the costa, from which veins run to the margin. 

 The flowers are frequently in pairs, very elegant, held towards 

 the end of the new spring branches by erect, reddish stalks, 

 much bent near the ends, giving them, together with the calix 

 and flower-bud, before expanding, the appearance of a crane's 

 neck, head and bill, whence it derives its name, crancbcrry or 

 cranberry. The flowers continue to grow until immature ber- 

 ries are produced on the stem in July, and in some instances, 

 even into August. The berries are of a yellowish green before 

 ripening, and when ripe, of a bright scarlet or carmine color, 

 and in some varieties, nearly black, or light and speckled with 



