CRANBERRY. 283 



mence to produce fruit varies greatly, but when five or six years 

 old, they may be expected to commence fruiting, and as they grow 

 older their fruitfulness increases. As a market fruit it probably 

 has no value, but a few trees should be in every garden. Children 

 generally relish the fruit, and the birds let other fruit alone 

 to feed on it. It is also used for sauce and pies, but for this 

 purpose something should be added to it for flavor. 



Propagation. — The seed grows readily if sown as soon as 

 ripe. For this purpose, the berries may be crushed in dry sand 

 and sown with it in a rather moist, somewhat shady situation. 

 In two years the seedlings may be transplanted to the perma- 

 ment location, but seedlings vary in their productiveness, and 

 while for a windbreak they may answer as well as any, yet 

 when plants are wanted for fruit, they should be grown from 

 cuttings or layers of the best kinds, or by grafting on seedling 

 stocks. For this purpose, the cuttings should be made in the 

 fall, about twelve inches long of the old wood, and be deeply 

 planted in rich land, with not more than two buds above the 

 surface. The branches root easily when layered, and if the 

 earth is drawn up around the sprouts until they root they make 

 good plants. 



Varieties. — There are no named kinds offered by nursery- 

 men, and it is necessary to depend on chance seedlings. How- 

 ever, if any large windbreak is looked over in the fruiting sea- 

 son one or more trees can generally be picked out that bear 

 fruit of exceptional value, and such may readily be increased. 

 The flowers are of two kinds; sometimes both staminate (male) 

 and pistillate (female) are on one tree, and sometimes a single 

 tree is limited to one sex. On this account some care is neces- 

 sary in selecting a variety to get one with both kinds of flowers, 

 or else plant the pistillate kind near a tree having staminate 

 flowers. 



The Cranberry. 



Cranborry (Vaccinium inacrocarpon). — This is the low trail- 

 ing cranberry of the swamps of many of the northern states. 

 The form and habit are well illustrated in Fig. 129. The so-called 

 high bush cranberry (Vihurnum opulus) is a tall shrub and 

 much more widely distributed than the trailing cranberry. The 



