

A tlesiialile wild low-bush l)lueberry used in crossing with cultivated 



high-bush varieties. 



BLUEBERRIES 



The high-bush blueberry (Vaccin- 

 ium corymbosum) is native through 

 the lower half of New Hamj»shire 

 but the cultivated varieties of blue- 

 berries which belong to this species 

 have not been too successful except 

 in unusually good locations. In 

 many winters, the part of the plant 

 above the snow line is killed or se- 

 verely injured by extreme weather 

 conditions. The low-bush blueberry 

 (Vaccinium pennsylvanicuni ) is 

 found in great abundance over the 

 sides of New Hampshire mountains. 

 The low-bush blueberry, though no 

 more hardy than the high-bush, es- 

 capes injury in severe winters be- 

 cause the plant is covered with snow. 

 For this reason, breeding work with 

 blueberries has been initiated with 

 the idea of producing a commercial- 

 ly valuable half-high blueberry by 

 crossing the low-bush and the high- 

 bush. Such crosses occur naturally 

 between unselected parents. 



In the project carried on at the 

 New Hampshire Agricultural Ex- 



periment Station, the best low-busii 

 jiiants were selected and crossed witb. 

 the best cultivated varieties of high- 

 bush. The plants which resulted are 

 intermediate in size, the fruits are 

 much larger than the low-bush, but 

 not as large as the cultivated high- 

 bush. Some of the first generation 

 plants, however, are very fruitful 

 and may have value in themselves. 

 One of the particularly good crosses 

 has been a cross between a selection 

 of low-bush blueberry from Gilford, 

 N .H., and the Pemherton variety. 



A second generation of seedlings is 

 being grown from this cross with 

 the hope that we may get plants 

 which will be about the size of the 

 Fi hybrid {i.e. about two feet high) 

 that will produce fruits of large size 

 pnd of bright blue color. Incident- 

 ally, this color is near black in the 

 first generation seedlings, even 

 though both parents are blue. It is 

 also hoped that such a half-high 

 bush, (like the low-bush plants,) 

 may propagate by means of stolons. 

 If this happens, the half-high will 



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