356 



THE ELDER 



THE HIGH-BUSH CRANBERRY 



differing chiefly in being a much larger plant ; leaflets 

 5-7 which are more coarsely serrate, the lower ones 

 often 3 -parted. The flowers are in smaller cymes, 4-6 

 inches across, yellowish-white. The fruits are larger, 

 the bluish-black color heightened by thick bloom, with 

 a distinct flavor. 



This species readily hybridizes with S. 

 canadensis on the grounds of the New York 

 Agricultural Experiment Station at Geneva, 

 New York, but the resulting plants have not 

 fruited. The western elder is an inhabitant 

 of the far West from British Columbia to 

 California, ard eastward into the Rocky 

 Mountains or almost to the territory of the 

 eastern forms. 



Elderberries are used for making wine, col- 

 oring wines or other fruits, and for pies and 

 sauces. The flowers are fried in batter and 

 eaten, and are also used for flavoring. The 

 demand is not great, yet elderberries are rather 

 commonly found on fruit-markets in Europe, 

 and are not uncommon in American markets. 

 The abundance of the wild crop, in parts of 

 the world where the elder grows, obviates the 

 necessity of cultivation; and the berries can 

 be grown only for local markets, standing ship- 

 ment but poorly. The elder has many quali- 

 ties to recommend it for a cultivated plant; it 

 thrives in a great diversity of soils and cli- 

 mates; the plants are comparatively free from 

 fungi and insects; the plants are easily man- 

 aged under cultivation; propagation is of the 

 easiest, reproduction being effected readily by 

 seeds or hard- or green-wood cuttings. Lastly, 

 from the attempts to domesticate the elder, 

 to be briefly discussed in the next paragraph, 

 it would seem at least that the American elder 

 is most plastic, and capable of rapid improve- 

 ment. 



That the elder is capable of improvement by 

 selection and cultivation is shown by the be- 

 havior of several races brought under orchard 

 management in widely different parts of the 

 country. The selected plants differ from the 

 wild ones in habit of growth, in size of leaf, in 

 productiveness ; the berries are larger and better 

 flavored, and the bunches are larger. Horticul- 

 tural literature contains records of at least 

 four such improved elders. An improved 

 elder was described in 1894 from Cedar Rapids, 

 Iowa, called the Improved Elderberry; Frank 

 Ford & Son, Bremen, Ohio, offered an im- 

 proved elderberry in 1890; D. Brant, also of 

 Bremen, Ohio, introduced an elder in 1891 

 under the name Brainerd; more recently, Wm. 

 W. Adams, Union Springs, New York, has 

 introduced an improved elder. 



Four seedlings from Mr. Adams are growing 

 on the grounds of the New York Agricultural 

 Experiment Station. They are quite distinct, 

 each deserving a varietal name, and all are 

 truly remarkable elders. The berries on some 

 clusters will average one-third of an inch in 

 diameter. A peculiarity of the plants on the 

 Station ground is that the plants are much 

 larger than those of the wild elder and tend 

 to take the tree or single-stem form. Should 

 it prove desirable to do so, these elders could 

 be grown as small trees. 



THE HIGH-BUSH CRANBERRY 



Several species of the large genus Viburnum 

 furnish substitutes for cranberries. The best 

 known of these is V. Opulus, variously called 

 in Europe and America. The fruits are es- 

 teemed for sauces in both continents, although 

 the species is better known as an ornamental, 

 and is not often listed by nurserymen as a 

 fruit-plant. No named varieties have been 

 recorded in the past, but something is now 

 being done towards its improvement by intro- 

 ducing variations from the wild and making 

 further selections under cultivation. This 

 work has now gone far enough to make it cer- 

 tain that the cranberry-tree is to become the 

 parent of a race of domesticated plants. 



Viburnum belongs to the honeysuckle or 

 Caprifoliacese family, and is very similar in 

 generic characters to Sambucus. It is suffi- 

 cient to distinguish the two genera to say that 

 the leaves of Sambucus are pinnate, the fruits 

 berry-like, containing three small seed-like 

 nutlets; while the leaves of Viburnum are 

 simple, and the fruit is a one-celled, one- 

 seeded drupe with a compressed stone. 



322. High-bush cranberry. 



Viburnum Opulus, Linn. Fig. 322. Tree Cranberry. 

 High-bush Cranberry. Snowball. Guelder Rose. Whit- 

 ten. Pimbina. Shrub attaining a height of 8-14 feet, 

 smooth, erect, light gray. Leaves opposite, simple, 

 palmately veined, broadly ovate, 3-lobed, wedge-shaped 

 at the base, lobes pointed, coarsely dentate-serrate, 

 pubescent beneath, 2-4 inches long ; petioles bearing 2 

 glands at the apex. Flowers white, in cymes, 3-4 inches 

 across, the marginal flowers neutral with enlarged flat 

 corollas. Fruit a bright red drupe, globose, acid ; stone 

 flat, orbicular. 



The typical form is a native of temperate 

 Europe and west Asia, but var. americanum, 

 (Mill.) Ait., placed by some botanists in a 

 distinct species, V. americanum, Mill., is found 

 in North America from New Brunswick to 

 British Columbia and southward to New Jer- 

 sey and Oregon. There are at least two other 

 varieties; the best known is the sterile snow- 

 ball, in which the whole cyme is turned into 

 showy flowers; another variety has yellow 

 fruits, and another variegated leaves. 



The fruit of the European cranberry-tree is 

 a poor substitute for the cranberry, being very 

 sour and astringent, and having large, hard 

 seeds, which make up the greater part of the 



