16 THE ENGLISH CRANBERRY. 



seasons ; thousands of acres are submerged, the only 

 harvest supplied bj them being wild ducks and the 

 like, for the great markets of the principal cities. 



In these counties, the wild cranberry is found in 

 great abundance, but it is a peculiarity of the plant, 

 that it never grows among the stagnant water, but 

 wherever found, it always flourishes by the side of the 

 numerous little rills which feed the great fens. From 

 this fact, very useful hints may be taken by the grower 

 of the cultivated vine, as we shall have hereafter occa- 

 sion to show. The English fruit is scarcely as large 

 as an ordinary green pea, it is of a pale-red color, and 

 having an austere and almost acrid taste. It possesses 

 a bitter principle, on which its peculiar flavor mainly 

 depends, and a small portion of tannin, which renders 

 the raw berrj^ somewhat astringent. This principle, 

 however, and of course its effects, are destroyed in 

 cooking. The English housewife from this berry 

 manufactures marmalade, jelly, jam, and the like, and 

 for puddings and pies are much prized; but in her 

 cuisne the delicately flavored cultivated cranberry is 

 not known, excepting indeed her master, on his return 

 from a visit to London, brings with him a bottle of 

 the American cranberries, for which he has paid the 

 not very moderate price of five shillings (or nearly 

 a dollar and a quarter) sterling. This leads us to be- 

 lieve that if our transatlantic parent, John BuU, was to 



