12 



EXPEEIMENTS IN BLUEBEEEY CULTURE. 



In the Boston market there is a wide variation in the wholesale 

 price of blueberries. Shipments begin in early June from North 

 Carolina, followed in the latter part of the month by blueberries from 

 Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. In early July, or in 

 some years in the last days of June, Massachusetts and New Hamp- 

 shire shii^ments begin to arrive, succeeded in late July or early 

 August by berries from Maine, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. 

 Receipts from these last two localities continue until late September. 

 The blueberries that bring the highest price are those from Massa- 

 chusetts and New Hampshire. At the time when other berries are 

 selling at 8 to 15 cents per quart wholesale, the first shipments of 

 New Hampshire berries often bring 20 to 23 cents. 



The owner of a blueberry pasture in southern New Hampshire 

 who superintended the picking of his own berries and shipped 

 them to one of the secondary New England cities has courteously 

 shown his shipment records, from which the following data have 

 been compiled : 



Records of shipments from a blnchcrry pasture in southern New Hampsliire, 



1905-1909. 



« This is the net price that the shipper received after deducting express charges. 



The average net price for the five years was 10.8 cents per quart. 

 The record indicates the substantial returns that are secured from 

 ordinary wild berries picked and sent to market in rather better than 

 ordinary condition. 



That the market would gladly pay a high price for a cultivated 

 blueberry of superior quality there can be no doubt. From the 

 market standpoint the features of superiority in a blueberry are large 

 size; light-blue color, due to the presence of a dense bloom over the 

 dark-purple or almost black skin ; " dryness," or freedom from super- 

 ficial moisture, especially the fermenting juice of broken berries; 

 and plumpness, that is, freedom from the withered or wrinkled ap- 

 pearance that the berries begin to acquire several days after picking. 

 While the connoisseur in blueberries who picks his own fruit knows 

 the widely varying flavors in the berries of different bushes, the buyer 

 in the city market is content to select his fruit according to its ap- 

 pearance, knowing that the flavor will be good enough in any event. 



193 



