CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



system appears to combine every advantage, while 

 it avoids the two extremes of annual renewals and 

 of protracted duration. When a bed is formed 

 and in full bearing, it will require an annual sur- 

 face-dressing of loam and manure, two parts of the 

 former to one of the latter, early in the winter, to 

 protect the plants and receive the new roots, 

 which always are emitted just below the lowest 

 leaf-stalks. In March, the old leaves ought to be 

 all cut off, leaving the hearts untouched ; and the 

 beds should be cleared of litter by a wooden rake. 

 Prior to the fruit becoming ripe, the mowings of a 

 lawn or of any soft grass or straw laid over the 

 surface of the soil, will prevent the berries from 

 being soiled. 



Triennial System of Planting. i. A plot or 

 border of earth being trenched, as before directed, 

 select, after the first rains of September, a quantity 

 of strong and well-rooted runner-plants, and with 

 a garden fork or trowel, set them one by one, 

 fresh from bed, in the new ground ; if in single- 

 border row, a foot apart ; if in a bed, at the same 

 distance plant from plant, but the rows two feet 

 asunder. Fix each plant firmly, and pour water 

 over it from the rose of a watering-pot. If a set 

 of plants be thus merely transferred without much 

 disturbance, and watered, few wih 1 fail. Hoe the 

 ground occasionally ; and prior to or during the 

 first frost, sprinkle some manure over and around 

 the plants. Suffer no blossom to expand in the 

 following spring, but leave the plants to acquire 

 strength. Stir the ground occasionally, and cut 

 off all runners. 



2. In the second September, prepare and com- 

 plete a corresponding plantation. Manure and 

 dress the plants during winter, and those of No. I 

 for the second time ; and in March trim off the 

 old leaves, and rake the surface. Let the plants 

 of No. i bear their full complement, the fruit of 

 which ought to be early, abundant, and of first- 

 rate quality. 



3. In September of the third year, repeat the 

 work, and thus complete the plantations. Treat 

 this and No. 2 exactly as directed for No. i. 

 In the following spring, suffer No. i to bear a 

 second crop, No. 2 its first crop, and obliterate 

 the blossoms of No. 3. In September of the 

 fourth year, dig up all the plants of "No. I, turn 

 the ground, manure, and replant it. Thus the 

 routine will be completed ; and thus, year after 

 year, there will be a plot progressing in one of 

 the three stages ; and if, with each approved 

 variety, a similar routine course be adopted and 

 especially if a plantation be formed in the three 

 aspects, east, south, and north, the last under a 

 hedge or fence, to screen it from the south sun 

 the season of strawberries can be extended 

 between the latter end of May and the middle of 

 August. For the latter period, Dr Hogg and the 

 Elton are peculiarly adapted ; and they who can 

 at that time command a supply of a fruit so fine 

 and beautiful, will have ample cause for self- 

 congratulation. 



The Cranberry. 



The common cranberry (Oxycoccus palustris] 

 grows wild in upland marshes and turf-bogs both 

 in England and Scotland, and generally over the 

 northern parts' of Europe. It is a trailing-plant, 

 with slender shrubby shoots, which are clothed 

 with small linear leaves ; the fruit is an austere 



588 



red berry, about the size of the common currant. 

 It flourishes by the sides of little mossy rills, but 

 not among stagnant water ; hence the difficulty 

 of making it an article of culture. The American 

 cranberry (O. macrocarpus) is a larger and more 

 rambling growing plant than the common species. 

 Its fruit is also larger, and it can be cultivated on 

 both dry and boggy ground. In some parts of 

 the United States, barren wastes, meadows, and 

 sandy bogs are converted into profitable cranberry- 

 fields at little expense. Some cultivators plough 

 the land previous to planting ; the latter process 

 being performed by digging holes, four feet distant 

 each way, to receive the roots of the young plants. 

 In three years, the whole ground is covered, and 

 an acre in full bearing will often produce 200 

 bushels, which bring about one dollar per bushel. 



Under the name of cranberries, the fruit of 

 Vaccinium Vitis Ickza is more generally sold in 

 most British towns than the true cranberries. 

 The plant is an evergreen, with leaves somewhat 

 resembling boxwood, is common on our highest 

 mountain ranges, and forms excellent garden 

 edgings. 



The Grape Vine. 



The vine (Vitis vinifera), from the juice of 

 whose fruit wine is made by a process of fer- 

 mentation, is a plant of Eastern origin, which, 

 in early ages, was introduced into all the countries 

 of Southern and Central Europe. Requiring 

 a fine climate, it will not bear fruit in the open 

 air in most parts of Britain ; and it is only 

 in fine seasons and in good exposures that its 

 fruit is worth eating, even in the southern parts ; 

 in general, the grapes grown in gardens about 

 London are small, and not presentable at table. 

 In the north of France and Germany, they are 

 little better, and we do not really get fine grapes 

 of a proper size till we reach Italy or Portugal. 

 In England, however, grapes produced in hot- 

 houses surpass in size and flavour those grown 

 on the open-air vines of Southern Europe. 



In the wine-producing districts of the continent, 

 the practice is to grow vines in large fields, either 

 on plains or the sides of hills which are fully ex- 

 posed to the sun. They are trained in rows, tied 

 to stakes, and are pruned to a height of about four 

 or five feet ; on the Rhine, they seldom exceed 

 three or four feet ; and at a distance, the ground 

 has somewhat the appearance of being covered 

 with staked beans or peas. In Italy, the vines 

 are trained to a greater height, and are made to 

 cling to horizontal palings, as if from the roof of a 

 hot-house. 



To those in the southern parts of England, who 

 desire to rear the vine in gardens and on walls, 

 we offer the following directions : The varieties 

 most suitable for culture are I. The white sweet- 

 water, with round berries, somewhat tinged with 

 yellow, and faintly streaked with red on the sunny 

 side. 2. The white muscadine ; bunches rather 

 loose, berries not very large, yellowish, and 

 abounding with saccharine juice. 3. Early white 

 Saumur, with very compact small bunches of 

 beautifully transparent white berries, changing 

 to amber when ripe. 4. Black cluster, with 

 small berries between red and purple, closely 

 packed, very sweet, and luscious in flavour. 5. 

 Black July, with loose bunches of small, round, 

 deep purple berries. And 6. Miller's Burgundy, 



