174 Culture of the Cranberry. 
carbon in union with oxygen. The common form, charcoal, dif- 
fers but slightly from the diamond in composition, but the physical 
properties are quite different, although the difference is not greater 
than that of pure alumina and the sapphire. So it is not impro- 
bable that, like the instance here cited, the difference is due to 
crystallization. Carbon forms the solid parts of organic bodies 
except those which are formed of the compounds of lime. Jn the 
vegetable kingdom, especially, carbon is the element which gives 
solidity and strength to the individual. It also enters largely into 
the composition of fluids, or it may be said that this state is pre- 
paratory to a conversion into the solid form. Carbon is always 
black when uncrystallized. Chalk and lime, magnesia, together 
with a great number of other bodies of the mineral kingdom, are 
compounds of carbon, or rather triple compounds of oxygen, car- 
bon, and lime, or some other base. Carbon is widely distributed 
in both the organic and inorganic worlds. It is associated with 
the oldest products of the latter, and is brought up from the lowest 
depths of the earth, and hence is as ancient and as consequential 
as any of the elements except oxygen. 
Soil without carbon, very rarely, if ever, produces perfect vege- 
tables. The experiments which go to prove the contrary are sus- 
picious. Soil which has been heated to redness does not part with 
its carbon; the acids do not destroy it; and hence those instances 
where it has been attempted to destroy organic matter, or the car- 
bon in soil, may be set off against the difficulty of destroying it 
under circumstances more favorable. Crenic or apocrenic acids 
are scarcely destroyed by a red heat, when the quantity is very 
small; so the organic matter of soils is very rarely consumed, 
when brought to a bright redness preparatory for analysis. 
CULTURE OF THE CRANBERRY. 
As we have had several inquiries on the subject of cultivating 
the cranberry, we give the following communication from Mr. 
B. G. Boswell of Philadelphia, in the 6th No. of " The Farmer 
and Mechanic," which we believe will be very acceptable to our 
readers. 
This delicious fruit is coming into such general use, and is be- 
coming so important an article of export, and so much interest is 
now taken in its cultivation, that I propose giving a concise 
account of the same, and its general history. 
The common American Cranberry {oxycoccus macrocarpus) is 
found growing in a wild state in swampy soils, in the eastern, 
middle and western states. The first account we have of the cul- 
