THE CANADIAN HORTICULTUEI8T. 



231 



prove that under cultivation low, wet 

 soils would be the best. From my own 

 experience with this species of the 

 huckleberry, I would not choose low, 

 wet soils in which to plant it for fruit, 

 but in a sandy, or, at least, well -drained 

 one. The plants thrive best in peat and 

 the almost pure vegetable deposits of 

 the swamps ; also in the light, sandy 

 soils, and even high up in the hills of 

 New Jei-sey and adjoining States, in 

 light, sandy soils, in which the running 

 blackberries and five-finger plant have 

 to struggle to obtain nutriment from 

 the sterile soil. A plant that will grow 

 and thrive — bearing a heavy crop of 

 fruit in moderately favorable seasons — 

 in such soils will certainly thrive under 

 good cultivation, provided the soil is 

 not a heavy, unctuous clay. I have had 

 no experience in cultivating the huckle- 

 berry on clay soils; but in sand, or 

 sandy loam, they may be grown almost 

 as readily as currants or gooseberries. 



The plants can be had in abundance 

 from the open fields and swamps, and 

 usually they can be lifted with good 

 roots, and then by cutting away the older 

 stems — leaving the younger and more 

 thrifty — there is no difficulty whatever 

 in making them live. The past spring 

 I had occasion to move some plants of 

 the high-bush huckleberry that were set 

 out eighteen years ago. They were dug 

 up, and with saw and hand-axe the 

 stools were divided up and replanted, 

 and all have lived and are now growing 

 finely and even bearing fruit. I have 

 dug up wild plants for my own use and 

 for several of my correspondents and 

 friends almost every season for the past 

 twenty years or longer, and have not 

 as yet discovered that the huckleberries 

 of any of the species are at all difficult 

 to make grow or thrive under cultiva- 

 tion. They may all be propagated by 

 layers or seed ; but the latter is a slow 

 process, as the plants make little pro- 

 gress for the first few years, and we may 



save a decade or two by taking up the 

 wild plants. 



As there are several distinct natural 

 varieties of the high-bush species, as 

 well as of other species, it is well to 

 mark the plants to be taken up when 

 in leaf or fruit. The genuine or true 

 Vaccinium corymboaum bears quite 

 large, round berries, covered with a 

 blue bloom ; but there is a variety with 

 oval fruit, jet black, without bloom, 

 and another with globular berries also- 

 destitute of bloom. Of the dwarf, early 

 blueberry ( V. Pennsylvaidcum), com- 

 mon to high, dry and rather sterile 

 soils, there are also several distinct 

 natural varieties, one of which is an 

 albino, the fruit being pure white and 

 fully as transparent as the white grape 

 currant. 



In cultivating any of the huckle- 

 berries on sandy soils it is advantageous 

 to keep them well mulched, thereby in- 

 suring an abundance of moisture at the 

 roots, as well as preventing any baking 

 and overheating of the surface soil. 

 Under proper care and in rich soils the 

 plants will grow far more rapidly and 

 yield larger crops of fruit than when 

 left to grow uncared for, as in their 

 native habitats. — A. S. Fuller, in 

 American Agriculturist. 



HOW TO APPLY PARIS GREEN. 



Not long ago I saw on Long Island 

 what was to me a new way of applying 

 Paris geeen. A farmer was riding a 

 two-horse machine through his potato 

 field, dropping the poison on four rows 

 at a time and as fast as his team could 

 walk. This work is usually performed 

 by hand at great disadvantage. The 

 poison is mixed with water and applied 

 to a single row, of course — slow and 

 heavy work. The poison is no doubt 

 as effective when diluted with water as 

 when mixed with dry powder. But 

 the latter is most covenient, and I pre- 

 for cheap flour to plaster because it is 



