60 CRANBERRY CULTURE. 



ns well as above. It makes its appearance on savannas 

 and heath ponds directly after tlie ground is broken, al- 

 though, perliaps, not a specimen was visible before. Dur- 

 ing tlie first year its growth is vigorous, and somewhat 

 alarming ; the next, it comes up from the seeds again, but 

 does not grow so luxuriantly; and the third season, al- 

 though the seeds germinate, the plants have a sickly, yel- 

 low appearance, and most of them fiiil to perfect their 

 fruit ; after this they almost entirely disappear. 



In alluding to cranberry meadows. Dr. J. Gibbons Hunt, 

 a well-known naturalist of Philadelphia, says: "A very 

 curious grass comes up in these bogs after the turf h;is 

 been removed. It has tufted, flat, lanceolate leaves, cloth- 

 ed with bristly hairs. It flowers both above and under the 

 ground. Botanists call it Millet-grass, or Ainjyhlcaiyimi 

 Purshii. The aerial flower is borne on a loose bi-anching 

 panicle, with iVuit rarely ripening. Below the soil subterra- 

 nean jX'duncles l)ranch ofl" from the roots, bearing on their 

 ends perfect, solitary flowers, which are followed by ma- 

 ture fruit. Thus a double life seems to be given to this 

 humble grass, and, for a weary time, like Patience herself, 

 it has been waiting and flowering beneath the turf, plant- 

 ing its unseen and unsunned seeds. '^ Another species of 

 Amphicarjjnm has been discovered in Florida on the 

 banks of the Ajialachicola Eiver by Doctor Chapman, 

 who named it Ampldcarpuin Floridanum. It has similar 

 subterranean flowers, and is a more robust plant, with 

 a more creeping habit than the northern species. 



Tlie millet does but little injury to the vines, as it gradu- 

 ally decreases as they increase and have need fjr the 

 ground, Laige sums of money, perhaps thousands of dol- 

 lars, have l>een unnecessarily expended in removing this 

 grass from cranberry meadows. 



Mill-pond bottoms sometimes become very grassy after 

 the cranberry vines are ]>lanted, yielding, occasionally, a 

 ton of hay per acre, and presenting an appearance rather 



