FLOWERING SHRUBS 
a dark myrtle-green, revolute at the edges, whitish beneath, 
unequally distributed along the stem. The deep crimson 
smooth oval berries are collected by the squaws and sold at 
a high price in the fall of the year. 
There are extensive tracts of low sandy swampy flats in 
various portions of Canada, covered with a luxuriant growth 
of low Cranberries. These spots are known as Cranberry 
Marshes, and are generally overflowed during the spring; 
many interesting and rare plants are found in these marshes, 
with mosses and lichens not to be found elsewhere, low 
evergreens of the Heath family, and some rare plants belong- 
ing to the Orchidacew, such as the beautiful Grass Pink 
(Calopogon puichellus) and Calypso borealis. 
Not only is the fruit of the Low-bush Cranberry in great 
esteem for tarts and preserves, but it is thought to possess 
valuable medicinal properties, having been long used in can 
cerous affections as an outward application. The berries in 
their uncooked state are acid and powerfully astringent. 
There are two species of these low-growing Cranberries 
found in our peat-bogs and swamps, one larger in all its 
parts than the other, with the berries paler in colour and of 
better quality. This is Vaccinium macrocarpon. 
This fruit is successfully cultivated for the market in 
many parts of the Northern States of America, and is said 
to repay the cost of culture in a very profitable manner. 
The Cranberry belongs to one of the sub-orders of the 
Heath family (Hricacee), nor are its delicate pink-tinted 
flowers less beautiful than many of the exotic plants of that 
order, which we rear with care and pains in the greenhouse 
and conservatory; yet, growing in our midst as it were, few 
persons that luxuriate in the rich preserve that is made 
from the ripe fruit have ever seen the elegant trailing-plant, 
with its graceful blossoms and myrtle-like foliage. 
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