5S4< West Londo7i Gardeners' Association. 



in a moist situation, provided it were well watered in the hot months of summer. 

 He instanced, as motives to its cultivation, not only the utility of the fruit for 

 pies and tarts, but that it was also now so much in demand, that thirty thou- 

 sand gallons were annually imported, which paid at the rate of Qd. a gallon 

 duty. If plants are scarce, cuttings, taken oiF in March, two inches long, 

 placed in pans of peat earth, in a slanting position, put in a gentle bottom heat, 

 and kept moist, will be fit to plant out in May ; or seeds sown from imported 

 fruit in February, and pricked out under hand-glasses in autumn, will be fit for 

 planting out in Spring. Where many are wanted, make a bed in the kitchen- 

 garden, 6 ft. wide, and as long as necessary. Dig it out to the depth of a 

 foot, fill it with peat earth to the depth of 1 1 in., plant 3 ft. apart, or 

 thicker if plants be plentiful; and all the attendance necessary is weeding 

 and watering. A clump might be formed upon the lawn, or in the American 

 ground, upon the same principle, fencing the sides of it with brick on end, to 

 prevent the ingress of weeds, and placing rough stones for the plants to run 

 over. Gather all the berries not wanted for present use, before they are 

 touched by frost, and preserve them in bottles perfectly dry, or washed, and 

 put into bottles with water; and, if well corked, they will keep a considerable 

 time. — Mr. Fish had seen the plant flourish by the side of water, and had seen 

 it planted in kitchen-gardens, but did not know the result. He thought the sub- 

 ject of considerable importance, not merely on account of the value of the 

 fruit, but because one of the great generalising principles of the Society was 

 evolved by it, being confessedly a subject of which the generality of the mem- 

 bers were ignorant — Mr. Keane was sorry that a fruit so agreeable was not 

 better known ; blamed gardeners for their apathy ; lamented that they knew so 

 little of the use of fruits and vegetables, and earnestly advised his bachelor 

 brethren, in choosing partners for life, to make their knowledge of cookery an 

 indispensable qualification. 



Mr. Henry Knight entered at considerable length into the circumstances in 

 which he had seen the cranberry flourish in America, the purport of which 

 was, that it was most prolific in those half-marshy situations that were covered 

 with water at one season and dry at another, and by the sides of streams, 

 where the plants were overflowed for one part of the year, and left exposed for 

 the other. He was convinced that there were thousands of acres in our com- 

 mons where it would flourish, and where the gathering of its fruit might 

 become a profitable employment for cottagers living in the neighbourhood. — 

 Mr. Russel dwelt on the advantage which the poor man would derive from its 

 cultivation ; spoke of the miserable condition of the peasantry who gathered the 

 wild English cranberry in the vicinage of the lakes of Cumberland; lamented 

 that thousands of acres were lying waste, which, if properly cultivated, might 

 minister to the enjoyment of man ; and drew an analogy between the careless- 

 ness evinced towards the cranberry, and that exhibited towards the potato, 

 on its first introduction. — Mr. Judd considered the English cranberry prefer- 

 able, in point of flavour, to the American cranberry. — Mr. Fish was anxious to 

 see the labouring man elevated in his condition, but did not think that the 

 cultivation of the cranberry would be greatly productive of such a result ; he 

 wished, however, to see a small bed of it in every cottage garden, that the 

 labouring man might have his cranberry tart as well as liis gooseberry pie, as a 

 wholesome variety of food tended much to promote the happiness of social 

 enjoyment. 



Mr. H. Knight showed specimens of the Taccfnium v4rctostaphylos, a beau- 

 tiful evergreen shrub, with black berries, which he considered equally or more 

 useful than the cranberry, as it was very prolific, and much used for jellies in 

 America. 



Dec. 11. — General Meeting, at which all the business of the Society was 

 transacted, a new committee chosen, &c. 



Jan. 8. 1838. — Mr. Temple not being present, Mr. Fish read his essay on 

 the cultivation of the peach. After noticing the methods of propagating, he 

 gave an account of his practice in different counties of England, and in Bans'- 



