116 APPENDIX.
give my experience in the cultivation of the cranberry;
I would, do it with the hope that by my efforts and
experience, whether successful or otherwise, the cultivators of this fruit may be encouraged and emboldened
to persevere in the cultivation of this delicious fruit,
which promises the cultivator so great a reward.
It is more than twenty years since I entered upon
the cultivation of the vine with high hopes, believing
that the cranberry was a hard thing to exterminate,
that it would destroy grass in all situations and in all
soils, and cause even hassocks to disappear. But after
a trial and many years' of observation, I find the cranberry a hard plant to destroy, except with the plough,
and that it will not root out and destroy all grasses in
all situations and soils. I find that in some soils the
vine will not drive out certain kinds of grasses, when
in other soils it may succeed. Take for instance that
kind of sedge-grass which we call hassock-grass, this
upon banks of streams, and in our swails where it is
more or less irrigated, roots with such strong hold and
throws up the blades of grass so thickly that there is
no room for the vine in a soil less rich, and the vine
will in all probability succeed.
Take, for instance, the osmunda spectabilis, called in
this vicinity buckthorn, and is known to botanists by
the name of flowering fern. This grows in the form
of a tree, its slender stem supporting a large top with
116 APPENDIX.
give my experience in the cultivation of the cranberry;
I would, do it with the hope that by my efforts and
experience, whether successful or otherwise, the cultivators of this fruit may be encouraged and emboldened
to persevere in the cultivation of this delicious fruit,
which promises the cultivator so great a reward.
It is more than twenty years since I entered upon
the cultivation of the vine with high hopes, believing
that the cranberry was a hard thing to exterminate,
that it would destroy grass in all situations and in all
soils, and cause even hassocks to disappear. But after
a trial and many years' of observation, I find the cranberry a hard plant to destroy, except with the plough,
and that it will not root out and destroy all grasses in
all situations and soils. I find that in some soils the
vine will not drive out certain kinds of grasses, when
in other soils it may succeed. Take for instance that
kind of sedge-grass which we call hassock-grass, this
upon banks of streams, and in our swails where it is
more or less irrigated, roots with such strong hold and
throws up the blades of grass so thickly that there is
no room for the vine in a soil less rich, and the vine
will in all probability succeed.
Take, for instance, the osmunda spectabilis, called in
this vicinity buckthorn, and is known to botanists by
the name of flowering fern. This grows in the form
of a tree, its slender stem supporting a large top with
