4 CIRCULAR NO. 122, BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 



These, then, are the three fundamental requirements of successful 

 bhieberry culture: (1) An acid soil, especially one composed of 

 peat and sand, (2) good drainage and thorough aeration of the sur- 

 face soil, and (3) permanent but moderate soil moisture. Under 

 such conditions the beneficial root fungus Avhich is believed to be 

 essential to the nutrition of the plant need give the cultivator no 

 concern, for it will propagate itself spontaneously and adequately 

 without any necessity of soil or plant inoculation. 



VALUE OF SUPERIOR STOCKS. 



Blueberry plantations may be formed by the transplating of un- 

 selected wild bushes or by the growing of seedlings, but such a course 

 is not the best. Seedling plants, even from the largest berried par- 

 ents, produce small berries oftener than large ones. Until nursery- 

 men are prepared to furnish plants asexually propagated from supe- 

 rior stocks, the cultivator should begin by the transplanting of the best 

 wild bushes, selected when in fruit for the size, color, flavor, and 

 earliness of the berry, and the vigor and productiveness of the bush. 

 These he should propagate by layering and by cuttings until his 

 plantation is completed. Through a combination of these two meth- 

 ods, a valuable old plant can be multiplied by several hundred at one 

 propagation, the fruit of the progeny retaining all the characteristics 

 of the parent. 



Large berries cost less to pick than small ones and bring a higher 

 price. A berry eleven-sixteenths of an inch in diameter has already 

 been produced under cultivation and others of still larger size are to 

 be expected. 



PROPAGATION. 



"While grafting and especially l)udding are useful in experimental 

 work, neither method is suitable for commercial plantations because 

 blueberry bushes are continually sending up new and undesirable 

 shoots from the stock. For experimental purposes the best season 

 for budding is from the middle of July to the end of August. The 

 budded plants should be protected from direct sunlight, and special 

 care should be taken that the raffia wrapping does not become wet 

 for the first three weeks. 



SlUMPINO. 



The easiest, Avay to propagate the swamp blueberry is by a s])ecial 

 process of layering named " stumping." The directions are as 

 follows : 



1. In late fall, winter, or spring, preferably in early spring before the buds 

 have begun to push, cut off at the surface of the ground either the whole of 

 [Cir. 122] 



