512 



Garden and Forest. 



[October 22, 1890. 



The Dennis is a bugle berry, of good size, productiveness 

 and bright scarlet color. The fruit is picked late in September 

 and early in October. The foliage is darker than that of the 

 Early Red. 



The McFarlin, an oval, dark red berry, is probably the largest 

 late berry grown. 



The Gould is a productive pear-shaped berry, of medium 

 season, with a bright purple fruit and light colored foliage. 



The Lewis is probably the most brilliantly colored of the 

 Cranberries. It is a very bright glossy scarlet, medium in sea- 

 son and pear-like in shape. 



The Franklin is a comparatively new pear-shaped sort, as 

 late as Dennis, purple-red, with a high habit of growth. It 

 appears to have little to recommend it above older sorts. 



A new berry which Mr. Makepeace showed me appears to 

 combine more merits than any berry which I have ever seen. 

 Some twelve years ago he observed the original plants in a 

 neighbor's bog, occupying a space about six feet square, and 

 he procured a few cuttings. The small bog which he now has 

 of it is well worth a journey to see. The berries are unusually 

 large, cherry-shaped, a little later than Early Black, and a bright 

 rose- purple.. It is probably the largest early berry. I take 

 pleasure in calling it the Makepeace. 



It is an arduous duty to subdue a wild bog. The bushes and 

 trees must be removed, roots and all, and it is usually neces- 

 sary to remove the upper foot or so of the surface in order to 

 get rid of the roots, bushes and undecayed accumulations. 

 This process is termed "turfing." The turf is commonly cut 

 into small squares and hauled off. It is necessary to leave 

 the surface level and even, in order that all the plants may 

 have an equal chance and thereby make an even and continu- 

 ous bed, and to avoid inequalities in flooding. Although the 

 Cranberry thrives in swamps and endures flooding at certain 

 seasons, it nevertheless demands comparative dryness during 

 the growing and fruiting season. The swamp must therefore 

 be drained. Open ditches are cut at intervals of four or five 

 rods, about two feet deep, and these lead into the main or 

 flooding ditch. It is also often necessary to run a ditch around 

 the outside of the bog to catch the wash from the banks. The 

 areas enclosed within the intersections of the ditches are called 

 sections, and each section is planted to a single variety. The 

 main ditch is usually a straightened creek, or it carries the 

 overflow from a reservoir which may be built for the purpose 

 of affording water to flood the bog. Growers always divert a 

 creek through the bog if possible. In the Cape Cod districts 

 these creeks are often clear trout brooks. The main ditch is 

 strongly dammed to allow of flooding. 



Before planting, the bog is sanded. This operation consists 

 in covering the whole surface with about four inches of clean 

 and coarse sand, free from roots and weeds. The chief object 

 of sanding is to prevent too rapid growth and consequent un- 

 productiveness of vines. In wild bogs, the Cranberry rarely 

 roots deeply in the muck, but subsists rather in the loose sphag- 

 num moss. Vines that grow in pure muck rarely produce well. 



The sand also serves as a mulch to the muck, mitigating 

 extremes of drought and moisture. It also prevents the heav- 

 ing of the vines in winter, and it aids in subduing weeds. 

 Every four or five years after the bog begins to bear it is neces- 

 sary to resand it, in order to maintain productiveness. These 

 subsequent applications are light, however, seldom more than 

 half an inch in depth. The Cape Cod bogs are fortunate in 

 their proximity to the sand. 



It was once the practice to plant Cranberry-vines in " sods," 

 or clumps, just as they are dug from the swamps. There are 

 several vital objections to this operation, and it is now given 

 up. It is expensive, the vines are apt to be old and stunted, 

 an even "stand" can rarely be secured, and many pernicious 

 weeds and bushes are introduced. Cuttings are now used 

 exclusively. These are made from vigorous runners and are 

 six or eight inches in length. They are thrust obliquely through 

 the sand, about an inch and a half or two inches of the tip 

 being allowed to project. They are set in .early spring, about 

 fourteen inches apart each way. In two or three weeks they 

 begin to grow, and in three or four years a full crop is obtained. 

 The subsequent cultivation consists in keeping the bog clean. 

 A small force is employed during the summer months in pull- 

 ing weeds. Under ordinary conditions it costs from $300 to $500 

 per acre to fit and plant a bog. 



There are those who contend that flooding is not necessary. 

 It appears to be generally held that bogs are longer lived and 

 more productive if judiciously flooded. The reasons for flood- 

 ing, so far as I know, are five : (1) To protect the plants from 

 heaving in the winter; (2) to avoid late spring and early fall 

 frosts ; (3) to drown out insects ; (4) to protect from drought ; 

 (5) to guard against fire, which sometimes works sad havoc in 



the muck. Mr. Makepeace prefers to flood but once a year, 

 unless insects appear in serious numbers. He lets on the 

 water in December and draws it off in April or early in May. 

 Just enough water is used to completely cover the vines in all 

 parts of the bog. 



There are many hindrances to Cranberry growing. The 

 chief are spring and fall frosts, hail, numerous insects and 

 some fungous diseases. During the summer season the bogs 

 are not flooded, and insects must be kept in check by insecti- 

 cides. Tobacco water is commonly used. The liquid is 

 applied with hand pumps from tanks. It is supposed that it 

 has some value as a fertilizer also. 



Fifty barrels per acre is a good crop of Cranberries, yet 200 

 barrels have been produced. The grower usually gets from 

 $5 to $10 per barrel of 100 quarts. It does not appear to be 

 known how long a well handled bog will continue to be profit- 

 able, but Mr. Makepeace assures me that he knows a bog 

 thirty years old which is still in good condition. — Professor L, 

 H. Bailey in American Garden. 



New or Little Known Plants. 



Clematis Stanleyi. 



ALTHOUGH discovered about fifty years ago, and 

 figured in Hooker's "Icones Plantarum," t. 589, 

 where it is described as "the handsomest species of an 

 extensive and handsome genus," this Clematis has only 

 recently been introduced into cultivation. It has already 

 been noticed in Garden and Forest as being in flower at 

 Kew, and our illustration (seep. 513) has been prepared from 

 a plant there. It appears to be not uncommon in the east- 

 ern provinces of the Cape ; Burke, who collected for Lord 

 Derby, in compliment to whom the species was named, 

 having first found it in Macalisberg. The Kew 7 plants were 

 raised from seeds collected in the Transvaal by Mr. E. 

 Galpin, who described the plant as " a shrubby Clematis, 

 not more than three feet high, with deeply cut silky leaves 

 and large pinkish or pale purple flowers. The fruit when 

 ripe is a beautiful object, as elegant as a bunch of ostrich 

 feathers and silvery white. At first I thought it was an 

 Anemone. It is a very ornamental plant, and may, by 

 crossing it with the garden Clematises, produce a new race." 

 In a recent communication Mr. Galpin states that the 

 plant is abundant at high altitudes where frost is fre- 

 quently known, and suggests, therefore, that it may prove 

 to be hardy in England. Some plants placed outside last 

 year at Kew perished in the winter. The best plants are those 

 which have been from the first in a border in a sunny green- 

 house. These have grown a yard high, the leaves are 

 almost as silvery as those of the Silver-tree itself, and the 

 flowers have been abundant since the middle of July. A 

 bed of plants in a sunny position out-of-doors has been 

 only moderately successful, the summer weather this year 

 in England having been unfavorable to plants which enjoy 

 sunlight, warmth and not too much moisture. There is. every 

 prospect of this Clematis proving a first-rate garden-plant ; 

 if it will grow well outside, and flower as well as it does 

 at the Cape, it will be almost as useful as Anemone Japonica. 

 The whole plant is clothed with a silky tomentum, which 

 in the sun gives it an attractive silvery sheen. The roots 

 are fleshy, the stems tufted, herbaceous, branching freely 

 from below, erect ; the leaves opposite or alternate, six to 

 nine inches long, bipinnate, the pinnae variable in size and 

 lobing. The flowers are terminal and axillary, the pe- 

 duncles are six inches long, erect, curved near the top, and 

 each bears one flower, which is two and a half inches 

 across, cupped at first, almost flat before fading, the seg- 

 ments thick and fleshy, broadly ovate, with prominent 

 veins. The color varies from dull purple to rose, and 

 some of the plants are almost white flowered. The 

 stamens are in a large cluster and yellow. Every flower 

 is followed by a head of fruit. The stems are annual, and 

 the plants should be kept on the dry side whilst resting. 

 They start into growth in early spring, and as the first lot 

 of stems flower a second lot is pushed up from the base of 

 the plant, which are in bud ere the first lot of flowers have 

 faded. 



Kew. W. 



