1170 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



~ 2. O. MACROCA'RPUS Pursh. The large-fruited, or American, Cranberry. 



Identification. Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., 1. p. 263. ; Don's Mill., 3 p. 858. 



Synoni/mes. Taccinium macroc&rpum Ait. Hort. Kew., ed. 1., vol. 2. p. 13. t. 7., Hook, in Sot. Mag., 



t 2506., Lam III., t. 286. f. 4. ; Faccinium hispldulum Wangh. Amcr., t. 30. f. 67. ; Facchrium Oxy- 



crtccus /3 oblongifblius Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer., 1. p. 228. 

 Engravings. Dend. Brit., t. 122. ; Bot. Mag., t. 2506. ; andourfig. 993. 



Spec. Char., fyc. Stems filiform, trailing. Leaves elliptic-oblong, nearly 

 flat, and obtuse, distantly sub-serrulated on the margins, glaucous be- 

 neath, downy at the points when young. Seg- 

 ments of the corolla linear-lanceolate. Flower- 993 

 bearing branches erect, proliferous. Pedicels 

 lateral. Points of young leaves, peduncles, and 

 the margins of the calyx and bracteas, downy. 

 Berries spherical, red, often remaining through- 

 out the winter. (Don's Mill, Hi. p. 858.) This 

 is a trailing shrub, resembling the preceding spe- 

 cies, but it is a larger and more robust plant. 

 Several flowers come forth at the ends of the last 

 year's branches, surmounted by the shoots of the 

 present year. The bracteas are situated on the 

 upper part of the pedicels in this species, while in 

 Oxycoccus palustris they are situated on the 

 lower part. The berries are also larger, and of 

 a brighter red. It is a native of North America, 

 from Canada to Virginia, in bogs, principally on 

 a sandy soil ; and it is also frequently found on 

 high mountains. It flowers from May till July. Introduced in 1760, and 

 frequent in collections ; producing, when cultivated for its fruit, which is 

 used in all respects like that of the common cranberry both in America and 

 Europe, a larger quantity on a given space than O. palustris. 

 Propagation, Culture, $c. This species may, like the other, be propagated 

 by cuttings taken from the points of the growing shoots, and planted in sand 

 under a hand-glass ; or by layers, or division of the plant. In gardens, it may 

 be cultivated as directed for the common cranberry ; or in floating islands 

 formed by filling old boats with peat soil, which may be anchored in a river, or 

 fixed stationary in ponds or other pieces of artificial water. Sir Joseph Banks 

 was the first person who cultivated the American cranberry in England for its 

 fruit. He grew it on the margin of a pond, in a box of peat soil, suspended 

 in water, and procured immense crops. An account of his mode of proceeding 

 is given in the Horticultural Society* 's Transactions, vol.i. p. 71.; and in the Ency- 

 clopedia of Gardening, ed. 1835, p. 937. As the results of Sir Joseph Banks's 

 mode of culture, we may here mention, that, in the year 1813, his crop ave- 

 raged one fifth of a gallon, or about as many cranberries as will make a good- 

 sized cranberry tart, for every 2 square ft. The size of the beds in which 

 they were grown was equivalent to 18 ft. square ; and the total quantity pro- 

 duced from this space was 3| Winchester bushels. It is probable that by 

 improvements in the method of culture ; such as withholding moisture at the 

 ripening season, mixing the peat soil with leaf mould, or consumed stable 

 dung or night soil ; or, probably, by keeping the peat moist with liquid 

 manure instead of common water, and full exposure to the sun, something 

 might be done in the way of increasing the size and flavour of the fruit. 

 At all events, the subject is worth experimenting upon by the practical gar- 

 dener and the amateur. Those who are fond of overcoming difficulties, and 

 producing objects at once highly artificial, altogether new, and singular as well 

 as beautiful, might try to graft the Oxycoccus, standard high, on some species 

 of Faccinium or Andromeda. 



Variety. 



*~ O. m. 2fdliis variegdtis Hort., Faccinium macrocarpum fol. var. Lodd. 

 Cat., has variegated leaves, and is a very ornamental plant for keep- 

 ing in pots, or on moist rockwork. 



