NATURAL HISTOKY. 15 



with the different varieties of fruits or vegetables. The 

 best looking are selected first ; reasoning by analogy, they 

 conclude that the largest and fairest must necessarily be 

 the best, but in this they frequently err. Those varieties 

 of fruit which are finest, and possess the highest flavor, 

 are generally of medium size. We know of no especial 

 difference in the flavor of cranberries, whether they be 

 large or small. But the small varieties are certainly the 

 best keepers, and also the heaviest, they being almost 

 solid, while the largest sorts are quite hollow. 



It has been asserted by writers upon this subject that 

 there are two kinds of cranberry vines, viz., the produc- 

 tive, and the barren ; or, as B. Eastwood terms them, the 

 " healthy, arid the unhealthy vine." He says : " The 

 healthy vine, as far as we have been able to discover, pre- 

 sents an appearance of greenish-brown on the leaf; the 

 spears and runners are fine and thin, remarkable for their 

 wiry nature and aspect. They seem of stunted growth, 

 but form beautiful and tufted groups of spears in their 

 process of matting. The unhealthy vine appears alto- 

 gether brighter and stronger, and hence, from this pecu- 

 liarity, some are apt to be mistaken ; for instance, a prac- 

 tical grower was disappointed in finding his most luxuriant 

 vines, and those from which he had expected the best 

 returns, barren. ' The barren vines,' said he, * looked 

 greener, had more bushy leaves and stronger or thicker 

 spears than those which produced the most fruit.' I felt 

 confident, from their appearance, that they were the best 

 vines I ever saw ; but I lived to find out that these signs, 

 which I took to indicate the productiveness of the plant, 

 were only symptoms of disease, which disease means 

 barrenness." 



Another failure, resulting from the same cause, has been 

 brought to our notice. 



A farmer near Bristol, Pa., desiring to cultivate cran- 

 berries, procured vines from several reliable growers in 



