of the English Cranberry in dry Beds. 383 



circumstance that the plants have been so little affected by 

 the extreme heat of the last summer. In two years the plants 

 completely covered the bed, and last year (the third) they 

 produced a crop of fruit which you had an opjjortunity of 

 seeing. You then expressed an opinion that it might be de- 

 sirable for the Horticultural Society to know the method of 

 cultivating the English Cranberry so successfuUy on dry beds. 

 But as the greater part of that season (1821) was singularly wet 

 and cold, I was led to suppose that circumstance might have 

 been the cause of their then making such vigorous shoots 

 and I therefore thought it better to suspend my opinion con- 

 cerning them till I saw what effect a drier season would haA-e 

 on both the plants and fi'uit. The last, one of the hottest 

 and driest I ever remember, afforded me the opportunity I 

 wished for ; and I have had the satisfaction to observe that the 

 plants have continued nearly as vigorous, and the fruit has 

 ripened as well, as in 1821, though a month earlier. As the 

 produce was gathered at different times, to gratify the curiosity 

 of ladies and gentlemen who visited our grounds in the course 

 of the season, I cannot say exactly the quantity of fruit pro- 

 duced on a given space ; but I think it was certainly not less 

 than one quart on a bed five feet square, and I have no doubt, 

 that, when the plants are more disposed by age to produce 

 flowers and less vigorous shoots, the same space will yield a 

 much greater crop. Some part of the bed is a little shaded 

 by low pales, but how far that is a benefit to the plants, I do 

 not pretend to say : last summer it became necessary to water 

 all the American plants, and the Cranberry bed had an equal 

 share with the rest, but not greater; in 1821 no artificial wa- 

 tering was necessary. The subsoil over which the bed is made 

 is a sandy gravel, therefore not retentive of moisture, which is 

 against the successful cultivation of this plant on dry beds ; 

 but where the soil is naturally moist or damp, with a free air, 

 advantage might be taken of it, and the English Cranberry 

 might be cultivated on it with much success. On a bed in a 

 similar situation, and of the same sort of soil, the American 

 Cranberry [Oxycoccus macrocarpus) grows most luxuriantly: 

 but as a valuable paper on the cultivation of that species has 

 been published in the Transactions of the Horticultural So- 

 ciety by Mr. Hallet*, I consider it unnecessary to add any 

 thing to his directions and observations, which are plain, and, 

 if followed, will be attended with success. 



I have been long convinced that both species may be 

 grown with much advantage in numberless situations in tliis 



* Horticultural Transactions, vol. iv. page AH',\. 



island, 



