VAC 



berries, however excellent in America. The beft method 

 of having American Cranberries in Europe, is by cultiva- 

 tion in an artificial bog with great plenty of water, as firft 

 contrived by fir Jofeph Banks. A very few fquare yards 

 of ground thus employed, will yield as many Cranberries as 

 any family can ufe. If allowed to hang till they are full 

 ripe, as late as Oftober, they are even better than the Oxy- 

 ciicus, and may be kept dry in bottles throughout the year. 

 Our wild Cranberries have generally been gathered too 

 early ; as may alfo be the cafe with thofe brought from 

 America. 



39. V. erythrocarpum. Scarlet Carolina Cranberry. Mi- 

 chaux Boreal.-Amer. V. i. 227. (O.Kycoccus ereftus; Purfli 

 264. ) — " Corolla deeply four-cleft. Leaves oval, pointed, 

 finely ferrated, fringed. Stem ereft. Flowers axillary." 

 — On high mountains of Virginia and Cai-ohna, flowering 

 in June. Berries fcarlet and quite tranfparent, of an ex- 

 quifite tafte. Purjh. The Jhm is llirubby, ered, generally 

 with divaricated zigzag branches. Leaves rather large, thin 

 and membranous, fomewhat hairy at the ribs on each fide. 

 Calyx minutp, fharply four-cleft. Corolla before expanfion 

 long and conical ; finally revolute. Anthers prominent, with- 

 out fpurs. Berry globofe, (hining. Mkliaux. 



We have feen no fpecimen of this fpecies. Its fruit 

 might be an acquifition to our tables, if raifed in the fame 

 mode as the laft. 



In the above ample detail of the genus Vacc'mium, which 

 we truft will prove acceptable to thofe who have ever at- 

 tended to its former confufion, we have removed eight of 

 Willdenow's fpecies. Four of thefe are album, mucronalum, 

 Ugtijlrtnum and hifpldulum of Linnius, the latter being re- 

 ferred by Mr. Purfli to Gaultheria by the name of fer- 

 pyllifolia ; fee that article, where this fpecies fliould be in- 

 troduced nex.t to procumbens, with the following charafter. 

 " Stem creeping, hifpid. Leaves roundifli-oval, acute. 

 Flowers four-cleft, axillary, folitary, nearly feffile. Co- 

 rolla bell-rtiaped." (Vaccinium hifpidulum ; Linn. Sp. PL 

 500. Willd. n. 26. Michaux Boreal.-Amer. v. i. 228. 

 t. 23.) — In moffy fwamps, particularly where Cedars and 

 other evergreens abound, from Canada to Pennfylvania, 

 flowering in April and May. A fmall creeping plant. 

 Berries white, very fw^et, and agreeable to eat. Purjh. — 

 The other four difcarded fpecies of Willdenow dse fufcatxim, 

 •utnufium, amsnum and virgatum of Dr. Solander, m Ait. 

 Hort. Kcw. ed. i ; the reafons of which rejeftion are to be 

 found under our 13th and 17th fpecies. — On the other 

 hand, we have augmented this genus with feven entirely 

 nondefcript fpecies, for mofi of which we are obliged to 

 the bounty of our often-mentioned friend Mr. Archibald 

 Mtnzies ; as well as with twelve others from Michaux, 

 Piirfh, and our feveral Englifh garden botanifts and pub- 

 lifhers. On this fubjeft we would particularly direft our 

 fellow-labourers to the plants hitherto confounded under 

 V. Ar&ojlaphylos, and the ftill-fuppofed varieties of that in- 

 terefling fpecies ; relating to which, difcovcries are pro- 

 bably yet to be made, in the wilds of Tartary and the 

 Levant, and poiTibly even in the greenhoufcs of France and 

 England. 



Vaccinium, in Gardetiing, comprehends many forts of 

 hardy, dwarf, under-flirubby, ligneous, evergreen, and de- 

 ciduous plants, among which tha fpecies moil commonly 

 cultivated are thofe of the black wl:_rtle, or bilberry (V. 

 r.iyrtillus) ; t\\2 white Pennfylvanuvj .-Iiorts, or bilberry 

 '(V. album, fee the preceding article) ; the red whortle- 

 berry (V. vitis idza) ;_ the cranberry, mofs, or moor berry 

 (V. oxycoccus) ; the mar{h whortle, or great bilberry- 

 7 



VAC 



bufh (V. uliginofum) ; the hifpid-ftalked American whortle. 

 berry (V. hifpidulum, fee the preceding article) ; the 

 corymbous-flowering American whortle-berry (V. corym- 

 bofum) ; the privet -leaved Pennfylvanian whortle-berry 

 (V. liguftrinum) ; and the flamineous American whortle- 

 berry ( V. llamineum). 



The firft has flender, branching, ftirubby ftalks, about two 

 feet in height, and produces large eatable berries of a black- 

 i(h-red colour. The fecond is a fimilar plant, producing 

 fmall berries of a whithh colour. The third is a more 

 dwarfifti plant, producing clufters of nodding, reddifti 

 flowers, and red juicy berries of great value for tarts, and 

 other cuhnary ufes. The fourth has flender creeping ftalks, 

 which produce reddifli eatable berries of great value and 

 importance for different culinary well-known purpofes, as 

 in pies, tarts, &c. The fifth has a woody, flirubby, branch- 

 ing ftalk of fome height, and afl"ords whitifli purple flowers, 

 and large berries. The fixth grows with flender, trailing, 

 rough ftalks, and yields large red berries. The reft are all 

 American plants. 



Method of Culture. — They may all be raifed from feeds, 

 or oifset root-fuckers, creeping roots, and trailing rooting 

 ftalks. Thofe alfo growing with feveral rooted ilalks and 

 branches, may be divided in the root and top, into feparate 

 plants, in which way they fucceed very well. 



The feeds ftiould be fown, where that method is purfued, 

 in the autumn as foon as tliey are ripe and gathered, in a 

 fliady border, or the places where the plants are to grow 

 and remain ; and when the young plants are up, they ftiould 

 be kept clean, and be removed with earth about their roots, 

 as there may be occafion. 



The offsets and root-plants may be fet out in tlie fame 

 feafon in proper places, which for the firft four forts are 

 thofe where the foil is of a cold, light, fandy, heathy, moffy, 

 moory, or woody nature, and for the two fucceeding ones 

 in marfliy and boggy fituations ; as thefe have the moff 

 refemblance to thofe in which they grow naturally, and are 

 the moft profperous. It may hkewife be advifeable in many 

 cafes to take the plants from their native fituations with balls 

 of earth about their roots. Some, however, fucceed in the | 

 common borders and other parts. They may in fome cafes ■ 

 be removed in the fpring feafon, but the other is the better 

 way. 



They are admitted into gardens and pleafiire-grounds for 

 the fake of variety, curiofity, and ornament, and fome of them 

 are cultivated for the ufe of their fruit. In its natural fitua- 

 tion, that of the cranberry is often an objeft of very great im- 

 portance, affording the poor gatherers of its berries con- 

 fidcrable employment as well as much money. It dehghts 

 moft in rather wet, moory, mofly fituations. 



The vaccinium oxycoccus of Linnaius, or cranberry, 

 may be preferved perfeft for feveral years, merely by drying 

 it a little in the fun, and then flopping it clofely in dry 

 bottles. The vaccinium myrtillus, or bilberry, yields a 

 juice, which has been employed to ftain paper, or linen, 

 purple. In autumn the moor-game chiefly live upon the 

 produft of this fhrub. 



VACERRI. See Druids. 



VACH, in Geography, one of the fmaller Lipari iflands, 

 in the Mediterranean. 



Vach, or Vahh, in Mythology, a name of the Hindoo god- 

 defs Sarafwati ; fakti or coni'ort of the creative power in 

 the Trimurti, or divine Triad of the Eaft. The name Vach, 

 or Vachi, is derived Iromjpeeeh, Sarafwati being goddefs of 

 eloquence ; and hence called alfo Vachdevi. Vachafpati, a 

 title equivalent to lord of eloquence, is fcmetimes apphed 



to 



