224 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Juke, 
than in any other part of the country. But in this 
favored belt only a very small fraction of the land 
is suitable for cranberries. The wild vines are 
found in all the Northern States, in swamps and 
peat bogs, and mature some fruit, 
but good crops are exceptions to 
the general rule. This uncertainty, 
we think, must always discourage 
planting in these regions. This, 
of course, must operate as a heavy 
premium upon the cultivation 
of the fruit in the narrow limits, 
where good crops are the rule and 
failures the rare exception. But 
even here there is much careless 
investment of capital. Planta¬ 
tions are made upon bogs that can 
not be graveled or sanded, and in 
places where they can not be flow¬ 
ed. Of course, crops will not be 
satisfactory in these plantations, 
and they will run out for want of 
care. This should encourage the 
opening of new plantations where 
all the conditions of success are 
present. We know of very shrewd 
business men, who have studied (S 
this subject thoroughly, that are 
still making investments in good 
cranberry 1 and and in plantations. 
There is. one very remarkable 
quality about this fruit, which en¬ 
courages the planter. It requires 
no manure, and where the work 
is thoroughly done there is very 
little expense in keeping a yard in 
good order. The annual flowing 
supplies all the -wants of the plant, 
and old vines bear as abundantly 
as those recently planted. There 
are natural bogs on Cape Cod 
that have been in good bearing 
condition for over sixty years. 
Those farmers who live in the 
favored belt and have good cran¬ 
berry land are perfectly safe in 
developing it. The crop can hardly fail to be¬ 
come a paying specialty in all this region. 
Cold-Frame Cabbage’ Plants. 
This article contains information that it will 
pay our horticultural readers to lay to heart 
against the “pricking out” days of next No¬ 
vember. The winter, as we all know, has been 
exceedingly severe, and it commenced in full 
force as early as November 28th—fully three 
weeks ahead of time. Our cabbage seed had 
a new primrose.— {Primula cortusoidcs amcena.) 
been mainly sown September 20th, in some un¬ 
occupied frames (for Want of space elsewhere), 
and the weather had been so unfavorable that 
they had made but little growth. Because of 
their small size the pricking out had been de¬ 
ferred, and the frost caught us with only a part 
of the crop replanted. There was nothing for 
it but to put on the sashes and save the bulk of 
the plants as the}' stood in the seed-bed. At 
this writing (April 15th) they are all alive, and 
they look pretty well—until they are pulled and 
examined, when it turns out that notone of them 
is safe to plant. Thej' are all split in the stem, 
as in figure 1, and plants thus affected will make 
loose heads. Of those which were pricked out, 
as in figure 2, not one is so affected. They 
had not quite such a firm foothold, and so their 
leaves are a little more scarred with the effects 
of the hard frosts, but their stems are short 
and firm and their hearts are sound. There 
are about 20,000 of the injured plants, and we 
have had to decline orders for over $250, which 
they would have just about filled. What is 
nearly as bad, we shall have to buy several 
thousands to make out the quantity needed for 
our own fields. The moral of this unfortunate 
tale is as follows: Sow your cabbage seed from 
the 1st to the 5th of September, instead of from 
the 15th to the 20th; if they are inclined to 
grow' too large because of a late autumn, pull 
them up and lay them in by the heels to 
check their growth; be sure to have them all 
pricked out in the frames by November 20th. 
A New Primrose. 
When w r e say “ a new Primrose,” we mean 
that it isnew to our cultivation. The old Primrose 
of poetry, which includes the 
Cow'slip and Polyanthus, seems to 
be passing out of cultivation; it is 
difficult to find more pleasing 
early flow'ers. Perhaps the intro¬ 
duction of a more showy kind will 
revive the taste for the old sorts. 
The plant we have figured comes 
to us from Japan as Primula 
cortusoidcs amcena , and under this 
name it has just appeared in our 
catalogues. Our engraving is from 
one of the original stock sent from 
Japan by Mr. Thomas Hogg sev¬ 
eral years ago. Whether it is a 
native of that country is not quite 
certain. Primula, cortusoidcs —the 
Primrose resembling Cortusa, a 
related plant—has been in cultiva¬ 
tion for a great many years, but it 
is only recently that its varieties 
have been taken up by florists. 
The engraving shows the leaves 
and flow'er-clusters of the new' 
variety reduced about one third 
in size. A strong plant makes a 
large tuft of leaves and throws 
up several vigorous flow'er-stalks, 
wdiich bear from five to twelve 
flowers. The lobes of the corolla 
are beautifully “crimped” and 
delicately veined. The colors 
vary from pure white to rosy pur¬ 
ple—the specimen from which 
our drawing w r as taken, w T as of a 
charming lavender color. The 
plant has proved quite hardy near 
New' York, and we hope to be 
able to class it among our hardy 
herbaceous plants. It is said to 
seed very freely in Europe; if it 
does so with us, it will soon be 
sold at prices which will make it popular. 
There is another new hardy Primrose, Primula 
Japonica, which we hope to flower and figure. 
The seeds of these Primroses often lie dormant 
for a long time before they germinate. We have 
seen some accounts of their not coming up 
Fig. 2. —CABBAGE PLANT TRANSPLANTED. 
until the second year. The seeds of these Prim¬ 
roses should be sown as soon as they ripen. 
