570 THE CRANBERRY. 



and eight or ten days later for the north side ; so that by means of a 

 ridge the strawberry season in the open garden is extended at least 

 three weeks. Sometimes these ridges are built of brickwork, in steps, 

 and sometimes they are formed of stones, in the manner of a wall built 

 without mortar, the plants being placed in the interstices. In which- 

 ever way the ridge is formed there ought to be a gutter of three inches 

 or four inches in width along the apex, as a channel for supplying 

 warm water to the roots. It would be an improvement also to cover 

 the south side of the ridge during nights with mats or canvas, supported 

 on hoops or rods at nine inches or one foot above the plants, to check 

 radiation. A few hand-lights or feet of Eendle's patent glass and tile 

 plant protectors would prove a clear gain of another three weeks. 

 Eidges of this kind require to be taken down every year after the crop 

 is gathered, and replanted with the earliest runners that can be got. 

 If such ridges could be furnished with the plants forced the previous 

 year the crop would be still further accelerated. The ordinary slope 

 of the ridge is an angle of 45, because loose soil will remain stationary 

 at that angle ; but where the ridge is to be faced with stones or tiles, 

 the slope may be nearly perpendicular, or at all events 70. In the 

 garden of a cottage which has been built on a platform, the sloping 

 bank which supports the latter might be planted with strawberries, 

 either with or without the addition of stones or tiles. 



Gathering the fruit should take place when it is quite dry, and they 

 should be taken to table the same day. It should always be gathered 

 with the calyx attached, and laid singly in shallow baskets on straw- 

 berry leaves. Those of the cabbage tribe, though generally used, 

 injure the flavour of the fruit. 



Forcing. See p. 513. 



The Cranberry. 



The cranberry (Oxycoccus, Pers.) is a genus of low trailing shrubs ; 

 one, O. palustris, the English cranberry, a native of Britain and the 

 north of Europe in moist bogs; and the other, O. macrocarpus, the 

 American cranberry, a native of swamps in the United States. The 

 fruit of both has long been gathered from the native habitats of the 

 plants, and used for tarts and other purposes ; and it forms an article 

 of exportation from Sweden, Eussia, and North America. Both sorts 

 may be cultivated in gardens in peat-soil, kept moist ; and if it is en- 

 riched with thoroughly rotted dung the vigour of the plants will be 

 greatly increased, and the flavour of the fruit improved. The English 

 cranberry requires a more constant supply of moisture than the Ameri- 

 can ; but the fruit of both is better flavoured when grown with much 

 less moisture than they enjoy in their native habitats. The American 

 cranberry has even been grown in beds of dry peat-soil, and produced 

 a plentiful crop of excellent fruit. The plants are readily propagated 

 by layering the shoots, or by taking off their points and striking them 

 in sand under a hand-glass. Both species may be grown on the 

 margin of a pond, or on moist parts of rock work. 



The Scotch cranberry (Vaccinium Vitis-idrea, L.); the whortle-berry 



