CRANBERRY (from crane + berry). name given to the fruit of a few creeping. vine like species of the genus Vaccinhim. family Ericace.T. The smaller cranberry (raccinium arycorrns) grows wild in the peaty bogs and marsh lands of the temperate and colder regions of both Europe and America. The larger cran berry ( Facciniuta mac/yea/Ton) is native in similar situations in the United States, and is extensively cultivated fur commercial purposes in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Wisconsin, and a few other Northern States. The cranberry is a firm, red, acid berry, of good keeping quality, and is used for sauce, tarts, and the like. in the improved commercial culture of cranberries, nat ural swamps or bogs are selected which can be drained by open ditches and flooded W11111 desired. The mitive nose and swamp growth :re removed, and the peat covered two to four inches deep sand. The vines are planted about 14 inches apart, cuttings 6 to S inches in length being used. The sand keeps down the weeds, makes cultivation easy, and helps retain the moisture in the soil below. Additional are given every four or five years, which keep the vines short and close. In sonic localities
sanding is omitted altogether. The object of flooding is to protect the vines in winter and from early fall and late spring frosts, to destroy insects, prevent drought, and protect against fire. The berries are gathered preferably by hand. but often with special rakes and combs. There are three principal types of cultivated varieties, de termined by the form of the berries—bell-shaped, bugle-shaped, and cherry-shaped—with many varieties of each. In 1900, 987.516 bushels of cranberries were marketed in the United States.
The cow-berry or cranberry ( Vac einium vitis-idwa) is common in both Europe and America, and, like Vaccinium oxyeoccus. is gathered and sold in considerable quantities, but is not cultivated. The shrub Vibernum °pubis is known as the high-hush cranberry. The fruit is tart, but is of little value, and is seldom The Tasmanian cranberry is the fruit of humifusum. of the natural order Epa cridacete.