60 



CRAXBERRT CULTURE. 



as well as above. It makes its appearance on savannas 

 and heath ponds directly after the ground is broken, al- 

 though, perhaps, not a specimen was visible before. Dur- 

 ing the first year its growth is vigorous, and somewhat 

 alarming ; the next, it comes up from the seeds again, but 

 does not grow so luxuriantly; and the third season, al- 

 though the seeds germinate, the plants have a sickly, yel- 

 low appearance, and most of tliem fail to perfect their 

 fruit ; after this they almost entirely disappear. 



In alluding to cranberry meadows. Dr. J. Gibbons Hunt, 

 a well-known naturalist of Philadelphia, says : A very 

 curious grass comes up in these bogs after the ttirf hris 

 been removed. It has tufted, flat, lanceolate leaves, cloth- 

 ed with bristly hairs. It flowers both above and under the 

 ground. Botanists call it Millet-grass, or Amphicarpum 

 PurshiL The aerial fiower is borne on a loose branching, 

 panicle, with fruit rarely ripening. Below the soil subterra- 

 nean peduncles branch ofi* from the roots, bearing on their 

 ends perfect, solitary flowers, which are followed by ma- 

 ture fruit. Thus a double life seems to be given to th's 

 humble grass, and, for a weary time, like Patience herself, 

 it has been waiting and flowering beneath the ttirf, j^lant- 

 ing its unseen and unsunned seeds. Another species of 

 Amphicarpum has been discovered in Florida on the 

 banks of the Apalachicola Eiver by Doctor Chapman, 

 who named it Ampliicarjmm Floridaniim. It has similar 

 subterranean flowers^ and is a more robust plant, with 

 a more creeping habit than the northern species. 



The millet does but little injury to the vines, as it gradu- 

 ally decreases as they increase and have need for the 

 ground. Lai'ge sums of money, perhaps thousands of dol- 

 lars, have been unnecessarily expended in removing this 

 grass from cranberry meadows. 



Mill-pond bottoms sometimes become very grassy after 

 the cranberry vines are planted, yielding, occasionally, a 

 ton of hay per acre, and presenting an appearance rather 



