THE HEATH-FRUITS 199 



summer ; corolla 4-partecl ; filaments scarcely one-third the length of the 

 anther. Fruit maturing in the autumn; 1/3-1 inch in diameter; oblong, 

 round, ovate or obovoid in shape; light red to dark red; more or less 

 astringent. 



296. Habitat of the large cranberry. — The large cranberry is 

 an inhabitant of open bogs, swamps, and damp heaths from 

 Newfoundland to Wisconsin and southward to West Virginia 

 and Arkansas, being more common in the northeastern quarter 

 of its range. In cultivation, its range is extended to the Pacific 

 Coast, where Oregon and Washington have a considerable num- 

 ber of cultivated bogs. 



297. History of cranberry culture. — The early settlers in the 

 New England and North Atlantic states were not slow in dis- 

 covering that cranberries made an excellent sauce to accompany 

 the fare of game on which they chiefly subsisted, but cranberry- 

 culture did not begin until the nineteenth centurj^ was well 

 started, 1810 being the date given for the establishment of the 

 first artificial bog. The abundance of the w^ild crop obviated the 

 necessity of domesticating the cranberry. Also, as there were 

 no bog-plants under cultivation for fruit, methods of treatment 

 had to be invented; the fruit-growdng lore of centuries and 

 even the tools for cultivation w^ere useless in beginning the 

 cultivation of the cranberry. The Cape Cod peninsula was the 

 home of the pioneers in cranberry-culture, and still holds first 

 rank among the several cranberry districts of the continent. At 

 first there w^ere no named varieties of this fruit, but cranberries 

 vary gi'eatly in size, color, and shape, so that types soon came 

 into existence, the earliest being the Bell, the Bugle, and the 

 Cherry. Later, about 1890, named varieties began to appear, 

 since which time a score or more, most of which are still under 

 cultivation, have been introduced. 



298. Vaocinium Oxycoccus, the small cranberry, described. — 

 The small cranberry is little cultivated, but the wdld fruits are 

 an article of commerce, and no doubt it would be found under 

 cultivation that this species could be grow^n in soils and climates 

 w^here the large cranberry does not thrive. No one seems to 

 have given attention to the hybridization of the large and the 

 small cranberry, although the two would no doubt hybridize, 

 possibly giving a better flavored fruit in the offspring than in 



