290 HORTICULTURAL MANUAL. 



279. The Tree Cranberry. — Under this name the high- 

 bush cranberry {Viburnum opulus) is propagated as a 

 combined ornamental and fruit-bearing shrub. It is in no 

 sense a cranberry, but is nearly allied to the cultivated 

 snowball. The large bush is hardy everywhere nearly in 

 Europe or America. It is pleasing in habit and foliage and 

 the fruit is very showy well into winter. Professor Card 

 says of the fruit and shrub: "The plant deserves all the 

 praise it is likely to receive as an ornamental, but as a 

 fruit-producing plant it is of doubtful value. The fruit 

 is said to be very sour, but more agreeable than the true 

 cranberry." 



In the prairie States this species is decidedly variable in 

 habit, size, and leaf. Its fruits are also variable in size 

 and quality. The sauce and jelly of the best varieties are 

 prized by the few who have tested them. But not the 

 least interest possessed by this handsome shrub is the great 

 possibility of improvement in size and quality of its cran- 

 berry-like fruits by cultivation and selection of the best 

 seedlings. It is propagated readily from stratified seeds 

 planted shallow early in spring. It also is propagated 

 readily by layering and from dormant cuttings planted in 

 autumn (58). 



280. The Cranberry, — Although this widely known 

 American fruit has long been commercial and found in 

 the market of about every city, village, and mining and 

 lumber camp of the Union, it may be said that it is a wild 

 fruit. While it is true that selected varieties have been 

 propagated, it cannot be said that they are larger or better 

 than were found in the cranberry marshes when the first 

 settlements were made at Cape Cod or in Wisconsin. In 

 the early days of our history, the home supply and the 

 relatively small quantity marketed was picked from the 

 primitive marshes. The first systematic planting and 



