THE CRANBERRY 



CHAPTER I. 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CRANBERRY 



IF the traveller over Cape Cod will now and then 

 turn his eye toward the borders of the many ponds 

 which abound in that region, or occasionally examine 

 the margin of swampy tracts, he will frequently per- 

 ceive patches, as they are technically termed, of a 

 strange-looking, and at first sight, a seemingly stunted 

 vegetation, presenting very different appearances to 

 those exhibited by fields of stately Indian corn ; or 

 tracts of farm land, where the tall stalks of the rye 

 wave, and ears of wheat look golden in the sunshine 

 of summer. 



A certain preciseness of planting, and regularity of 

 disposition, convinces even the most careless observer, 

 that these patches are by no means unproductive 

 And if he chooses to inquire of the next person he 

 meets, he will learn that these, to him singular-looking 

 specimens of farming, are cranberry grounds. 



