CRANBERRY. 163 



The fruit season may be greatly prolonged by having beds 

 in different exposures ; those frontiDg the south-east will 

 ripen long before those towards the north-west. There 

 must be no trees or other objects to shade the beds. For 

 more minute directions see Pardee, a new work on the 

 Strawberry, &c, published by C. M. Saxton. 



Cranberry. — The culture of the American Cranberry 

 (Oxycoccus macrocarpus) was introduced by the late Sir 

 Joseph Banks, and deserves particular notice, for it is al- 

 together overlooked by Lindley and other horticultural 

 writers. The plant is distinguished by the smoothness of 

 its stems, and the largeness of its fruit. It grows freely, 

 and produces its fruit readily in any damp situation. .It 

 has also recently been cultivated in various parts of the 

 United States on uplands with great success. The ordi- 

 nary way of cultivation in low lands is to select a swamp 

 or bog meadow — clear it off, and then pare off the surface 

 of bogs or grass so as to clear the soil of the roots — next 

 cover the surface of the ground with sand to the depth of 

 two to five inches, and in the sand set out the plants about 

 a foot to 18 inches apart. If transplanted with the sod 

 adhering, it is well, if the grass is only pulled out of the 

 soil. The Cranberry plantation is then to be kept clean 

 of grass and weeds until the whole surface of the ground is 

 covered by the Cranberry, which is usually the case in 

 three years after planting out. 



On uplands the ground is not to be enriched (one writer 

 says, the poorer the ground the better,) but prepared simi- 

 lar to a Strawberry plantation. It is well to cover the 

 surface of the ground with sand, and requires three or more 

 years for the soil to become filled with the plants ; during 



