SMALL CRANBERRY. 
51 
not to be found elsewhere, low evergreens of the heath family, and 
some rare plants belonging to the Orchidaceous tribes, such as the 
beautiful Grass-pink, (Calopdgon pulchellus) and Calypso-borealis. 
Not only is the fruit of the low Cranberry in great esteem for 
tarts and preserves, but it is considered to possess valuable medicinal 
properties, having been long used in cancerous affections as an 
outward application—the berries in their uncooked state are acid 
and powerfully astringent. 
This fruit is successfully cultivated for market in many parts of 
the Northern States of America, and is said to repay the cost of 
culture in a very profitable manner. 
So much in request as Cranberries are for household use, it 
seems strange that no enterprising person has yet undertaken to 
supply the markets of Canada. In suitable soil the crop could hardly 
prove a failure, with care and attention to the selection of the plants 
at a proper season. 
The Cranberry forms one of the sub-orders of the heath family 
(Ericaceae), nor are its delicate pink-tinted flowers less beautiful than 
many of the exotic plants of that tribe, which we rear with care and 
pains in the green-house and conservatory; yet, growing in our 
midst as it were, few persons that luxuriate in the rich preserve that 
is made from the ripe fruit, have ever seen .the elegant trailing-plant, 
with its graceful blossoms and myrtle-like foliage. 
The botanical name is of Greek origin, from oxus, sour, and 
coccus, a berry. The plant thrives best in wet sandy soil and low 
mossy marshes. 
