CREAM OF ECONOMIC PLANTS. 141 



larger fruit, sometimes 6 inches in diameter. It also produces 

 an oil. This species is now sunk under the former. 



Crab Tree. {See Apple.) 



Cranberry {Vaccinium Oxy coccus and V. macrocarjpum), 

 slender, trailing-stemmed, small-leaved shrubs, belonging to the 

 Cranberry family (Vacciniaceae). They are natives of this 

 country and North America, growing in boggy heaths. The 

 fruits are berries about the size of currants, which are collected 

 for preserving and for making tarts. V. macrocarpitm has the 

 largest fruit, and is imported from North America, where it is 

 extensively cultivated, especially near Berlin, Wisconsin, where 

 about one-foui'th of 750 acres of marsh is under cultivation. 

 It is flooded during winter ; in the spring the water is drained 

 off, and in October picking commences. Sometimes there are 

 as many as 3000 pickers employed. The ground is so marshy 

 that a wooden railway is laid from the centre of the operations 

 to convey the berries in trucks to the warehouse, where they are 

 laid on the upper floor, and on the lower are large fanning 

 mills to which the berries are let down in hoppers, and are thus 

 cleaned from leaves and other impurities. 35,000 bushels are 

 sometimes collected from this spot in one season, the greatest 

 quantity of which is sent to the Chicago market. This quan- 

 tity is far surpassed in New Jersey, where in favourable seasons 

 125,000 bushels are collected, valued at £60,000. 



Crassula, a genus of Crassulaceae, consisting of a great 

 number of species, natives of South Africa, many of which are 

 cultivated for their showy red flowers, especially C. falcata and 

 C. coccinea. The latter has of late years come into bad repute 

 for its narcotic qualities, symptoms of poisoning having in some 

 instances followed the mere smelling of the flowers, the effect in 

 some cases continuing several days, even requiring medical aid. 

 As it is a favourite window plant, it is advisable that it should 

 not be kept in close rooms. 



Cream-fruit, a name in Sierra Leone for a fruit supposed 

 to be produced by Boiqjellia grata, a handsome creeper of the 

 Dogbane family (Apocynacese). It has pretty white flowers 



