6 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
useful and valuable in regard to its natural his¬ 
tory and cultivation. With this view, nearly 
a hundred acres of cultivated cranberries have 
been visited in different sections of the State. 
The cranberry is too well known in New- 
England to need description ; but, it is so short 
a time since attention has been called to its cul¬ 
tivation, that many questions connected with it 
may be regarded as still unsettled. 
Its Natural History. —There are two promi¬ 
nent and well known species of this fruit; the 
small or European, ( Oxycoccus ‘palustris,) and 
the common American cranberry, {Oxycoccus 
macrocarpus.) This plant was formerly classed 
as one of the whortleberry genus, ( Vaccinia ,) 
but is now considered by many scientific men, 
as forming a group of four or five species, of 
which, the two mentioned above, are most com¬ 
monly known. * 
The roots of the small cranberry are creeping, 
with many stems, which are very slender, wiry 
and trailing, with many leafy branches. Its 
leaves are alternate, small perennial, somewhat 
oval, rolled back at the edges, erect on small 
stalks. They are glaucuous, or of a grayish 
color underneath. The flowers are small droop¬ 
ing, and very beautiful; each consisting of four 
distinct petals rolled back at the base, of a deep 
flesh color, on simple red stalks, which have 
two or more very small, imperfectly developed 
leaves or bracts. The berries of this species 
are small, being about as large as an ordinary 
sized pea. In the early part of their growth, 
they are spotted, very much like a sparrow’s 
egg, the spots being a little smaller, but, finally, 
in favorable situations, turn to a deep red. 
They have an acid taste, and are much used for 
tarts and jellies. It delights in marshy bogs 
covered with moss. Tt grows in great abun¬ 
dance in Russia, Sweden, Germany, and to some 
extent in Scotland and the north of England. 
It is also found in Nova Scotia and New Bruns¬ 
wick, and that vicinity, where it bears very 
abundantly, and along the St. John’s River, to 
a great distance from its mouth. It is met with 
in some parts of Massachusetts also. I observed 
it in the swamps of Provincetown, where it is 
called the “ spice cranberry.” It is imported 
into England from Sweden and the north of 
Europe, in large quantities, and though with 
us it would be considered as far inferior to our 
common cranberry, it is more esteemed by 
many. 
[*Note. — There is a plant called the High- 
bush, or High Cranberry, ( Viburnum opulus,) 
indigenous to North America, found on uplands 
in Maine, and along the St. John’s River, and in 
some parts of Massachusetts. It is a beautiful 
shrub, sometimes ten or twelve feet high, hav¬ 
ing a white blossom, and a fruit somewhat 
smaller than the common cranberry, perfectly 
red, and of an acid taste, well adapted for tarts, 
pies, &c., for which it is often used. The fruit 
differs from the common cranberry, in having a 
small oblong stone instead of seeds. It is easily 
propagated by seeds, layers, or cuttings, and is 
often found as a garden shrub, flourishing in 
every variety of soil, sands and clays, wet and 
dry. Its berries grow in clusters and are per¬ 
sistent through the winter. 
The plant, called in Maine, the “ Mountain 
Cranberry,” ( Vaccinium Vitis Idoca ,) has leaves 
shaped like those of our common cranberry, 
and bears an acid fruit used for the same pur¬ 
poses as our cranberry. It is very rare in this 
State, and where known, is called the “ Cow 
Berry.” 
There is still another plant, ( Arbutus , Uva- 
ursi — L.) found in abundance on Cape Cod, 
and there called the “ Hog Cranberry.” This 
is the common Bearberry. It is not properly a 
variety of the cranberry, but belongs to a differ¬ 
ent genus. Its leaves, arc in shape, much like 
those of the cranberry, and it is trailing like 
that plant. Its fruit is red, but smaller than the 
cranberry, and is used for medicinal purposes. 
All these plants have come under my personal 
observation and study.] 
In Sweden, it was formerly common to boil 
silver plate in the acid juice of this berry, that 
it might eat off the minute particles of copper 
alloy. 
The common American cranberry is a native 
of North America. It grows and flourishes in 
mossy swamps and bogs, as well as on sandy 
soils, from high northern latitudes, to North 
Carolina on the south, and to Minnesota on the 
west, where it produces very abundantly every 
other year, and is not excelled in size or flavor 
by cranberries in any part of the country. It 
is bought in large quantities of the Indians. 
The stem of this species is larger than that 
of the small cranberry just-described, and is 
commonly from a foot, to four or five feet in 
length. It is sometimes much longer than that. 
I have seen it from twelve to fifteen feet in 
length, throwing up many rising branches, 
sometimes to the height of eight or ten inches. 
The leaves are about one-half an inch long and 
nearly one-fourth of an inch broad, the second 
year, when full grown. On the new spring- 
branches, which bear the flowers and berries, 
they are crowded towards the top. They are 
of an oblong, oval shape, the margin curved 
back, divided in the middle above and beneath 
by the costa, from which veins run to the mar¬ 
gin. The flowers are frequently in pairs, very 
elegant, held towards the end of the new 1 spring- 
branches by erect, reddish stalks, much bent 
near the ends, giving them, together with the 
calix and flower-bud, before expanding, the ap¬ 
pearance of a crane’s neck, head and bill, 
whence it derives its name, craneberry or cran¬ 
berry. The flowers continue to grow until im¬ 
mature berries are produced, on the stem in 
July, and in some instances, even into August. 
The berries are of a yellowish green before ri¬ 
pening, and when ripe, of a bright scarlet or 
carmine color, and in some varieties, nearly 
black, or light and speckled with deep red, va¬ 
rying in shape, from round to oval oblong, about 
one-half of an inch in diameter, of an agreeable 
acid taste, and often clinging- to the vines dur¬ 
ing the whole winter. If gathered before ripe, 
they have not that delicious acid taste which 
they have at their maturity, and are, therefore, 
far less valuable than when left to ripen on the 
vines. 
The cranberry grows naturally in watery 
bogs and morasses, and sometimes on high 
mountains. I have seen it growing luxuriantly 
and producing in abundance on marshes exposed 
to, and covered by high tides, on coarse sand, 
perfectly white and entirely destitute of organic 
matter of any kind, though accessible to mois¬ 
ture ; on pure peat, on peat covered with sand, 
on dry, loamy and gravelly upland, and on the 
richest garden mould thoroughly tilled. 
The American cranberry is exported very 
largely to Europe, though, as has been stated, 
it is not universally considered as equal to the 
Russian. It was found and used by the early 
settlers of Massachusetts, though not introduced 
into the Royal Bolanic Garden, at Rew, till 
1772, and comparatively little valued here, till 
within the last half century. 
Analysis. —A valuable analysis of this fruit 
has recently been made, at my request, by Pro¬ 
fessor E. N. Horsford, of Cambridge. From 
this analysis it appears that the 
Percentage of water expelled at 212° F., is 88.7S 
Percentage of ash,. 17 
Woody fibre, tissues, organic acids and 
other organic matter not decomposed 
at 212° F.,.11.05 
100.00 
Percentage of potash in the ash,.42.67 
“ “ soda,. 1.77 
This explains why this fruit flourishes so well 
on the sea-shore, where it derives its alkalies; 
the amount of potash, though small, may be de¬ 
rived from the sea. 
From this analysis, it will be seen that only 
.17 per cent., or less than two-tenths of one per 
cent, of the cranberry is found in the ash, as 
inorganic matter, derived from the soil, all the 
rest being derived from the atmosphere and 
from water. The results of experience are, 
therefore, strikingly corroborated by the deduc¬ 
tions of science, that the cranberry will grow 
where nothing else will. It explains, too, how 
it is that this fruit seems to require nothing for 
its perfect development, but air and water, as 
will appear more distinctly 7 - hereafter. 
Modes of Cultivation. —The cranberry may 
be propagated from the seed, or from cuttings, 
or by transplanting. The last method is most 
frequently adopted. The first crop obtained by 
planting the seed, will ordinarily be a year or 
two later, than that produced by wild plants 
transplanted. It is, therefore, found to be more 
profitable to transplant, except in one or two 
sections of the State, where the interest in trans¬ 
planting has been so great, that ten dollars a 
square rod is not an uncommon price for plants, 
whe-ie the ground is thickly covered. When it 
is desired to propagate by slips or cuttings, the 
usual practice is to gather a large quantity of 
vines and run them through a common hay- 
cutter, till they are reduced to the length de¬ 
sired, an inch or so, when they may be sown 
broad-cast and harrowed in, though it is consid¬ 
ered best, on some accounts, to sow in drills 
and cover properly. These slips very soon 
take root, starting from the base of the leaves, 
and at the same time shooting up many rising 
branches. If sown broad-cast and harrowed, 
they should not be overflowed till the slips have 
taken root, as otherwise, many, remaining un¬ 
covered, will be floated off. 
In the case of cranberries growing wild, it is 
a common and well-known practice to flow or 
cover them with water during the winter and 
early spring. This is very desirable, if the sit¬ 
uation is such as to allow it, though it is not 
generally considered as essential by those who 
have been most successful. It is often useful, 
where there are facilities for flowing, to let the 
water remain a few inches deep till the spring 
is well advanced, (some think, till the first of 
May, or even later,) to retard the blossoming 
till there is no danger from frosts. Facilities for 
flowing are desirable in cultivation of cranber¬ 
ries, also, and if the plantation could be so ar¬ 
ranged as to flow very quickly, it might be of 
essential service, occasionally, during the spring 
or autumn. 
As the cranberry, in its natural state, is more 
frequently found growing in a low wet swamp 
or marsh, that kind of land is generally selected 
for its cultivation.— Report of Sec. of Massa¬ 
chusetts Board of Agriculture. 
(To be continued.) 
LAKE ERIE GRAPES. 
Charles Carpenter, of Kelley’s Island, in 
Lake Erie, off Sandusky Bay, gives an account 
of some very successful experiments in grape 
culture on that island. He says: 
The soil of Kelley’s Island consists of a few 
inches of vegetable mould, resting on a sub-soil 
of hard clay, in which is mixed some pebbles 
and sand, mostly of lime-stone, and occasionally 
crystals of sulphuret of iron are found. 
When the whole are mixed by plowing, they 
make a pretty stiff soil, well supplied with lime, 
sulphur, and iron, and yield heavy crops of 
wheat or corn. Most of the island is nearly 
level, or having a gentle slope, just sufficient to 
carry off the surface water. 
Whero grape vines are planted, the ground is 
sub-soiled eighteen inches deep, and under¬ 
drained. The first planting of grapes was in 
1842 or ’43, when a few Isabellas were planted 
in gardens. The Catawba was introduced two 
or three years later. The unusual growth of the 
vine, and superior quality of fruit, attracted the 
attention of persons acquainted with their culture, 
and generally elicited expressions of surprise; 
and induced several persons to engage in the 
culture for the sale of fruit and wine-making. 
In the spring of 1851, the writer set part of a 
field where corn or wheat had been raised for 
five successive years. The ground sub-soiled 
