On the Cultivation of the English Cranberry. 277 



weather in summer. This I consider of much importance, 

 and am of opinion that it is in a great degree owing to that 

 circumstance that the plants have been so little affected by 

 the extreme heat of the last summer. In two years the plants 

 completely covered the bed, and last year (the third) they 

 produced a crop of fruit which you had an opportunity of see- 

 ing. You then expressed an opinion that it might be desirable 

 for the Horticultural Society to know the method of cultivat- 

 ing the English ( Cranberry so successfully on dry beds. But as 

 the greater part of that season, 1821, was singularly wet and 

 cold, I was led to suppose that circumstance might have been 

 the cause of their then making such vigorous shoots, and I 

 therefore thought it better to suspend my opinion concerning 

 them till I saw what effect a drier season would have on both 

 the plants and fruit. The last, one of the hottest and driest I 

 ever remember, afforded me the opportunity I wished for, and 

 I have had the satisfaction to observe that the plants have 

 continued nearly as vigorous, and the fruit has ripened as well 

 as in 1821, though a month earlier. As the produce was ga- 

 thered at different times, to gratify the curiosity of ladies and 

 gentlemen who visited our grounds in the course of the season, 

 I cannot say exactly the quantity of fruit produced on a given 

 space, but I think it was certainly not less than one quart on 

 a bed five feet square, and I have no doubt, that, when the 

 plants are more disposed by age to produce flowers and less 

 vigorous shoots, the same space will yield a much greater 

 crop. Some part of the bed is a little shaded by low pales, 

 but how far that is a benefit to the plants, I do not pretend to 

 say ; last summer it became necessary to water all the Ame- 

 rican plants, and the Cranberry bed had an equal share with 



