112 ESSAY ON THE CRANBERRY. 



is to be made out of "boundless variety," and errors are to be detect- 

 ed without any settled test. If any action of our County Society shall 

 prove effectual in eliciting information, positive, definite, reliable in- 

 formation in relation to it, it will render an essential service. 



That it would be for the interest of our farmers, who have low or 

 meadow land capable of being flowed occasionally with water, to cul- 

 tivate cranberries cannot admit of a doubt ; because in such situa- 

 tions, even under an administration of "slovenly neglect," they 

 often yield in abundance. It may be, indeed, that the demand at 

 present, is not urgent. It may be that they are sometimes hawked 

 about the country at one dollar a bushel. And what if it sometimes 

 is so ? An increase of the supply will increase the demand, even at 

 an augmentation of the price. Hitherto, apples have filled a large 

 share of the department which rightfully belongs to the cranberry, 

 because in the country, every family has, or may easily have an 

 orchard or at least a tree ; while few, even now, for a moment en- 

 tertain the idea that the dehcious fruit of which we are speaking, 

 can be grown upon any land fit for an orchard, in far less time than 

 an apple tree possibly can, with the great advantage of being sub- 

 ject to no borer, canker worm or catterpillar. For these reasons it 

 is, that cranberries are not usually found upon the list of family ar- 

 ticles which must he had : and accordingly they may have often been 

 offered, Avithout finding sale. 



Is the Cranberry capable of being transferred from low, wet land, 

 to that which is high and dry ? 



And would it be a profitable crop npon high land ? 



These are questions which it is proposed to consider at some length. 

 And as regards the first inquiry, before noticing experiments re- 

 cently made, and which may succeed or may finally fail, it may be 

 well to ascertain what opinions have been entertained among the learn- 

 ed on subjects analagous to this. Have any theories ever been ad- 

 vanced among scientific men, irrespective of this question, which 

 would make it probable that any vegetable could be subjected to a 

 transition so violent as that from wet to dry, and not only survive 

 it, but triumph over it ? This is material, because many minds, 

 believing it subversive of nature's laws, calmly conclude that the 

 few cases of supposed success are accidental, out of course, and 

 upon the regular recurrence of which no one could calculate with the 

 slightest safety. 



