60 EXPEEIMENTS IN BLUEBERRY CULTURE. 



in the discussion of that transplanting, the plants would probably 

 have done somewhat better without the loam. In addition to the 

 crock over the drainage hole, a mass of fibrous kalmia peat was placed 

 in the bottom of the pot, filling it, when pressed down, to the depth 

 of an inch or more. After cutting the soil in the flats into rectangular 

 cakes, the plants were lifted and transferred to the pots with the least 

 possible disturbance of the roots. 



Several experiments had been made earlier to ascertain whether 

 at the first transplanting from the seed bed it is better to set the 

 plants in flats or to put them in 2-inch pots, or thumb pots as they 

 are more commonly called. It was found that when the plants in 

 thumb pots were set on a greenhouse bench they tended to dry out 

 so rapidly that it was impracticable to keep them in the right con- 

 dition of moisture. They became so frequently too wet or too dry 

 that their growth was interrupted and they were much inferior 

 to the plants in the flats. Other plants in thumb pots (PI. VII), 

 plunged in either sand, peat, or sphagnum, made about the same 

 growth as the plants in the flats, but showed no uniform advantage 

 over them, either while they were in the thumb pots or after a 

 second transplanting. The labor of transplanting and of maintain- 

 ing uniform moisture is somewhat greater in the case of the potted 

 plants. All things considered, in the original transplanting the 

 use of flats is regarded as preferable to 2-inch pots. 



It is desirable to consider at this time the exact qualities of the 

 soils used in the potting mixtures. As already stated, it is regarded 

 as preferable to omit the loam. 



The sand should be free from lime, as most sand is, in fact. It 

 should also be as clean as possible. If the only sand obtainable is 

 mixed with clay, this should be removed by repeated Avashing- in 

 water. 



The condition of the peat should also ho carefully considered, as 

 shown by the following experience during the progress of these 

 experiments. From the seedlings of 1908 many series of trans- 

 plantings were made, on various days in October, November, and 

 December. In the latter part of December it was noticed that while 

 in some of the transplantings the seedlings were growing vigorously, 

 other cultures were not doing well at all. Many of the tips were 

 withered, over 25 per cent in some of the cultures; the rest became 

 stagnated and dark purple, and remained so for nearly two months. 

 All possible causes of the trouble having been eliminated except 

 those due to the soil, the characteristics of the various soils used 

 were considered with care. At this time the writer was possessed 

 of the erroneous idea that liuie in the minutest quantities was very 

 injurious to the blueberry (p. 20). and consequently it was sus- 



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