COWSLIP 



CRANBERRY 



389 



567. Cowpea 

 Peas natural size 



COWSLIP, The true 

 English Cowslip is Pri- 

 mula officinalis. The plant wrongly 

 called Cowslip in America is the Marsh 

 Marigold, Caltha palustris. The 

 "American Cowslip " is a popular name 

 for Dodecatheon Meadia. The Vir- 

 ginian Cowslip is sometimes used for 

 Mertensia Virginica. 



COXE, WILLIAM, of Burlington, 

 N. J., was a pioneer pomologist. He 

 was born in Philadelphia, May 3, 1762, 

 and died on his farm on the Delaware 

 river near Burlington, Feb. 25, 1831. 

 He deserves special remembrance for 

 his excellent and now scarce book, "A 

 View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees, 

 and the Management of Orchards and 

 Cider, with accurate descriptions of the 

 most estimable varieties of native and 

 foreign apples, pears, peaches, plums 

 and cherries cultivated in the Middle 

 States of America illustrated by cuts 

 of two hundred kinds of fruits of the 

 natural size." This was printed at Bur- 

 lington, and published at Philadelphia 

 in 1817. Grapes and small fruits were 

 not included in the scope of his book, 

 but an article of his in the American 

 Farmer for July, 1828, shows that he 

 was acquainted with many varieties of grapes, and had 

 done much grafting. His book was a standard until the 

 time of the Downings, and was freely used by other au- 

 thors. The illustrations were excellent for their time, 

 but show only the size and outline of a fruit, and 

 whether it was dotted, splashed or streaked. 



Coxe said, 1817, that he had been "for many years 

 actively engaged in the rearing, planting and cultivat- 

 ing of fruit trees on a scale more extensive than has been 

 attempted by any other individual of this county." He 

 also had a national reputation for his cider at an age 

 when it was the most famous and characteristic bever- 

 age of the people, and when apple trees were cultivated 

 more for cider than for a table fruit. 



William Coxe belonged to one of the most refined fam- 

 ilies of Philadelphia. His early education was some- 

 what meager by reason of the Revolutionary war, but 

 he became a cultured gentleman. John Jay Smith gives 

 this pleasant picture of him: "Well do we remember his 

 extensive library in his fine mansion on the 'Bank' at 

 Burlington, when as a little boy we were assigned the 

 duty of bringing away, or taking home, some book or pam- 

 phlet from his ever open stores of information. * * * 

 His person was handsome, and his bearing that of the 

 'old-fashioned gentleman, improved by mixing in the 

 best society, but retaining the forms of the greatest po- 

 liteness and suavity, that modern usages are too rapidly 

 casting off. An errand to Mr. Coxe's was a cherished 

 privilege; never was the opportunity neglected by him 

 to place in the hand of his visitor some fruit that he so 

 well knew would be appreciated by a youthful appetite. 

 The finest Seckel pears we have ever seen were not un- 

 frequent deposits. He had an especial fondness for the 



Seckel pear, which is certainly among the half dozen 

 most famous pears of American origin, and which was 

 pronounced by Downing to be the finest flavored of all 

 pears." Coxe was made an honorary member of the Hor- 

 ticultural Society of London for making known the mer- 

 its of this pear through Dr. Hosack. The city of Bur- 

 lington has exceptional interest, both natural and his- 

 torical, and has a beauty of its own. Either the first 

 willow or the first poplar planted there is said to have 

 been brought from Halifax in the hand of William Coxe. 

 He planted many trees to beautify the town and, in par- 

 ticular, extended the front of the "Green Bank." It is 

 pleasant to think of William Coxe in connection with 

 the willow-fringed bank of the Delaware. Biographi- 

 cal details are unfortunately only too meager. A few 

 other details may be gleaned from the Horticulturist 

 11:304-307 (1856). W> M< * 



CRAB'S- EYE VINE. See Abrus. 



CRAB -APPLE in its widest sense means a small 

 apple. The Crab-apples of history are fruits of Pyrus 

 baccata. For more restricted uses of the word crab, see 

 Pyrus. 



CRAB -GRASS. One of several names for Eleusine 

 Indica; also for certain Panicums, as P. sanguinale. 



CRAMBE (old Greek substantive). Cruciferce. Per- 

 ennial hardy herbs, with small white, fragrant fls. in 

 panicled racemes: Ivs. mostly thick and large, more or 

 less cut or lyrate. Of easy culture. Little known in this 

 country. C. maritima, Linn. , is the Sea Kale (which 

 see). C. cordifdlia, Stev., of the Caucasian region, is 

 cult, as a border plant. It is an excellent foliage plant, 

 withstanding the winters in the northern states. Lvs. 

 very large and heavy, cordate and ovate, toothed, gla- 

 brous or nearly so: fls. small but very numerous, in great 

 branchy panicles 5-7 ft. high and nearly as broad. Gn. 

 50, p. 349. Gng. 4:291. For the first two years from 

 seed the plant makes only Ivs. ; but the third year it 

 may be expected to bloom, after which the plant usu- 

 ally becomes weak and dies. , jj g 



CRANBERRY. A name applied to trailing species of 

 the genus Vaccinium (Ericaceae). Of the true Cranber- 

 ries there are two species in North America, the snial) 

 ( Vaccinium Oxy coccus ) , and the large ( V. macrocar- 

 pon). These are native to swamps, where they trail; 

 their slender stems and little oval evergreen leaves over 

 the sphagnum and boggy turf. The red, firm berries 

 ripen late, in fall, and often persist on the vines until 

 spring, when well protected with snow. Each berry is 

 borne on a slender pedicel ; and the curve of this pedi- 

 cel in the European species is said to have suggested 

 the name Craneberry, which is now shortened to Cran- 

 berry. See Vaccinium. 



The large Cranberry, Vaccinium macrocarpon, is now- 

 cultivated on hundreds of acres in the United States;, 

 and this Cranberry culture is one of the most special 

 and interesting of all pomological pursuits. This Cran- 

 berry grows only in North America; and North America 

 is the only country which has a domestic pr cultivated 

 Cranberry. Because Cranberry-growing is such an un- 

 usual type of horticulture, it is thought advisable to 

 devote considerable space to it in this Cyclopedia. 



Cranberries may be grown on land both low and high; 

 but it is the general experience that low, boggy lands 

 are the only ones which give permanently good results. 

 In the winter, the natural Cranberry bogs are usually 

 flooded, and in summer they are free of standing water. 

 The flowers are often caught by the late frosts of spring,, 

 and the fruit may be injured by the early frosts of falL 

 Bogs are often ruined by fire in times of drought. In- 

 sects and fungi often play havoc with the crop. 



The ideal bog for Cranberry culture is the one in 

 which the natural environments of the plant are most 

 nearly imitated, and in which the grower can have the 

 greatest control over the difficulties mentioned above. 

 It should have the following qualifications : ( 1 ) Capa- 

 bility of being drained of all surface water, so that frea 

 water does not stand higher than one foot below tha 



