Upper Province, to gather cranberries, which they sell to the settlers in
the towns and villages, or trade away for pork, flour, and clothes. The
cranberries, when spread out on a dry floor, will keep fresh and good for
a long time. Great quantities of cranberries are brought to England from
Russia, Norway, and Lapland, in barrels, or large earthern jars, filled
with brine; but the fruit thus roughly preserved must be drained, and
washed many times, and stirred with sugar, before it can be put into
tarts, or it would be salt and bitter. I will boil some cranberries with
sugar, that you may taste them; for they are very wholesome."

Lady Mary said she should like to have some in her own garden.

"The cranberry requires a particular kind of soil, not usually found in
gardens, my dear lady; for as the cranberry marshes are often covered with
water in the spring, I suppose they need a damp, cool soil, near lakes or
rivers; perhaps sand, too, may be good for them. But we can plant some
berries, and water them well; in a light soil they may grow, and bear
fruit, but I am not sure that they will do so. Besides these fruits, there
are many others, that are little used by men, but are of great service as
food to the birds and small animals. There are many kinds of nuts, too--
filberts, with rough prickly husks, walnuts, butternuts, and hickory-nuts;
these last are large trees, the nuts of which are very nice to eat, and
the wood very fine for cabinet-work, and for firewood; the bark is used
for dyeing. Now, my dear, I think you must be quite tired with hearing so
much about Canadian fruits."

Lady Mary said she was glad to learn that there were so many good things
in Canada, for she heard a lady say to her mamma, that it was an ugly
country, with nothing good or pretty in it.