CRANBERRY. 169 



clean straw or tan usually placed about the plants to 

 keep the fruit from the ground or sand, should be put 

 round in early spring before the blooming. 



A deep, light rich loam is the best soil for the straw- 

 berry, and where nature has not placed this at the con- 

 venience of the planter, he should have recourse to 

 trenching. The fruit season may be greatly prolonged 

 by having beds in different exposures ; those fronting 

 the south-east will ripen long before those towards the 

 north-west. There must be no trees or other objects to 

 shade the beds. 



Cranberry. — The cultm-e of the American Cranber- 

 ry {Oxycoccus macrocarpus) was introduced by the late 

 Sir Joseph Banks, and deserves particular notice, for it 

 is altogether overlooked by Lindley and other horticul- 

 tural writers. The plant is distinguished by the smooth- 

 ness of its stems, and the largeness of its fruit. It 

 grows freely, and produces its fruit readily in. any damp 

 situation ; but where there is a pond, it may be culti- 

 vated with the greater success. On the margin of the 

 pond stakes are driven in a short way within the water 

 line ; boards are so placed against these as to prevent 

 the soil of the cranberry-bed from falling into the water. 

 A layer of small stones is deposited in the bottom, and 

 over these peat or bog earth, mixed with sand, to the 

 extent of about three or four inches above, and half a 

 foot below the usual surface of the water. Plants of the 

 American cranberry placed on this bed soon cover the 

 whole surface with a dense matting of trailing shoots. 

 There is a variety which is very shy in yielding its fruit, 

 and this should, of course, bei- avoided. If the prolific 

 variety be employed, from a bed thirty or forty feet in 



