272 



THE GARDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



Cranberries in wet soil, especially where there 

 is peat. In some of the North American States 

 large areas of land, which for other purposes is 

 valueless, is made to yield a considerable profit 

 annually by the cultivation of Cranberries. 

 The species grown there is : — 



0. macrocarpus (fig. 1058), a native. According 

 to Professor Bailey this Cranberry was first 

 cultivated about 1810, but its culture had not 

 become general until forty or fifty years later. 

 The berries naturally vary in size and shape and 



colour, and three general types, named in refer- 

 ence to their forms, are known as the Bell, the 

 Bugle, and the Cherry, and there are many 

 other named sorts in cultivation now, such 

 as Early Black, Dennis, M'Farlin, Gould, 

 Franklin, &c. 



" It is an arduous duty to subdue a wild bog. 

 The bushes and trees must be removed, roots 

 and all, and it is usually necessary to remove 

 the upper foot or so of the surface in order to 

 get rid of the roots, bushes, and undecayed 



Fiy. 1058.— Anu'rican Cranberry (Oxycoccus macrocarpus). 



accumulations. This process is termed 'turfing'. 

 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 

 continuous 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 2 feet deep, and these lead into the main 

 or flooding ditch. . . . Growers always divert 

 a creek through the bog if possible. Before 

 planting, the bog is sanded. This operation 

 consists in covering the whole surface with 

 about 4 inches of clean coarse sand; the object 

 being to prevent rapid growth and conse- 

 quent unproductiveness. Plants that grow in 

 pure mud rarely produce well. Every four or 

 five years after the plants begin to bear it is 

 necessary to give a top-dressing an inch thick 

 or so of sand. 



"Fifty barrels per acre is a good crop of 

 Cranberries, yet 200 barrels have been produced. 

 The grower usually gets from 20 to 40 shillings 



per barrel of 1 00 quarts. Bogs that have been cul- 

 tivated thirty years have yielded a crop annu- 

 ally and are still good." — (Garden and Forest.) 



The plantations are made by putting in cut- 

 tings 6 inches long, two-thirds of which is thrust 

 obliquely into the sand, and a foot apart each way. 

 This is done in early spring, and the plants root 

 in about three weeks; in three or four years a 

 full crop of berries is obtained. The plantations 

 are flooded in December, and the water is 

 drawn off again in April. 



The Common Cranberry (0. palustris) may be 

 grown in beds formed by digging out the ground 

 at the side of a clear pond or running water, so 

 that the bottom of the excavation may be about 

 6 inches below the surface of the water, and 

 then filling in a layer of loose stones and peat 

 earth to the depth of about 9 inches. The bed 

 may then be planted and the water let in. 



Bilberry or Blaeberry (Vaccinium Myrtil- 

 lus) (fig. 1059) is a deciduous shrub, growing 

 to the height of 1 or 2 feet, and commonly 

 found on stony heaths in various parts of 

 Britain. The fruit, a small berry, is dark- 

 purple, and has an agreeable slightly acid 



