72 ANNUAL KEPORT 



DISCUSSION. 



Col. Stevens. I wish to inquire il" the writer is correct in re- 

 gard to the statement that he makes in relation to blueberries, 

 whether they can be transplanted and propagated or not. I wish 

 to say I have known of it being done here in Minnesota; I have 

 seen it tried here in Minneapolis, and others may have seen the 

 same thing, Mr. McCumber, on Portland avenue, in coming 

 through the swamps near Eau Claire, in an early day, took up 

 some fifty or seventy-five blueberry bushes and set them in his 

 garden, and they grew. I never have seen any in its wild, native 

 heath that have borne so largely as those. It may be true that 

 the blueberry will not stand transplanting with the professor at 

 Washington, but in this climate I have no doubt in saying it 

 can be. 

 President Elliot. Here is a field for investigation. 

 Prof. Green. It hsis been tried in New England but it was not 

 been very successful. Experiments there would seem to bear out 

 the statement of Mr. Van Deman that it can not be easily propa- 

 gated. 



Mr. Barrett. I tried about a hundred roots, taking special 

 pains to place them in well cultivated ground and to protect 

 with a mulching of hay in the row. I also planted some by 

 the river among the trees; but in spite of every effort all the 

 roots died and they were a failure. 



Mr. Pearse. Were they transplanted in the spring or in the 

 fall! 



Mr. Barrett. They were dug in the fall and the roots buried. 



Col. Stevens. I have known of another instance where the 

 transplanting of the blueberry was done with success, and have 

 seen them frequently when growing. I prepared a communi- 

 cation in regard to them at one time when editing the Farmers^ 

 Union. 



Mr. Underwood. Can you give some idea of their productive- 

 ness ? 



Col. Stevens. They were very productive, and even more so 

 than on their native heath. 



Mr. Gould. I have grown them on sandy ground. 



Col. Stevens. Mr. McCumber planted them on sand, such as 

 the greater portion of this city is built on, and they were grown 

 about a mile and a quarter from here. The city is now built into 

 almost solid blocks to that place, but at that time it was a sandy 



