BLUEBERRY OR HUCKLEBERRY— BRAZIL NUT— BREAD FRUIT 



661 



of the delicate nature of the young plants 

 and the very careful treatment which 

 they require. The same station made an 

 examination of the flowers of this species 

 in order to learn at what time the stamens 

 yield their pollen. 



This seems to be given off immediately 

 before and for a short time after the corol- 

 la opens. By opening the corolla of flow- 

 ers about to expand and jarring the blos- 

 soms vigorously over a glass slide, we se- 

 cured pollen in considerable quantities, 

 which is an indication that the flowers 

 may be at least in part self-fertilized. 

 Nothing appeared in the structure of the 

 flowers to render artificial crossing dif- 

 ficult. 



The experience of one grower in Massa- 

 chusetts leads him to the following con- 

 clusions: 



(1) It [the high-bush blueberry] does 

 not take kindly to garden cultivation; (2) 

 it is very diflicult to propagate from the 

 seed; (3) it is somewhat difficult to graft, 

 but patience and a little of the "know 

 how" will overcome all of these. If grown 

 in the garden, (1) they must be on the 

 north side of a board fence or in the 

 shade of trees and the ground must be 

 mulched with leaves or evergreen boughs; 

 (-2) let the seed get fully ripe and drop, 

 then sow in a shady place; (3) graft 

 small bushes at the surface of the ground 

 and cover most of the scion with moist 

 earth. 



Success in growing blueberries has been 

 attained by all of these methods. 



Another grower reports that he has 

 been very successful in growing high-bush 

 blueberries on a poor, rocky, upland soil. 

 The bushes improved much in thrift and 

 yielded from three to four times as much 

 fruit as wild bushes growing in pastures 

 and swamps and the berries were from 

 25 to 30 per cent larger. He advises set- 

 ting plants 6 feet apart each way and 

 mulching with strawy manure in the fall. 



The results of the experiments thus far 

 conducted would seem to show that the 

 blueberry is subject to much variation and 

 is greatly improved by cultivation. Blue- 

 berries are as yet but little cultivated, 

 but the few attempts that have been made 



toward their improvement indicate that 

 with care satisfactory results may be ob- 

 tained. Meanwhile natural blueberry bar- 

 rens may be made to give increased yields 

 by systematic burning and care, and thus 

 these lands, otherwise worthless for agri- 

 culture, made sources of profit. 



References 



For an account of exhaustive experi- 

 ments in Swamp Blueberry Culture, see 

 Bulletin 193, Bureau of Plant Industry, 

 by F. V. Colville. 



Card, Bush Fruits. 



Bailey, New Cyclopedia of American 

 Horticulture. 



Brazil Nut 



The seeds of a Brazilian tree, called also 

 Castanea, Cream nut. Nigger toe, Para 

 nut. It belongs to the natural order 

 Myrtaceae, species BerthoUetia excelsa. 

 The tree often attains a height of 150 feet, 

 and a diameter of four feet. It has bright 

 green, leathery leaves, two feet or more in 

 length, and six inches in width. It bears 

 cream colored flowers and a very hard 

 shelled fruit six inches or more in diam- 

 eter, containing about 20 three sided 

 wrinkled seeds, which are used for des- 

 sert, confectionery, and for the manufac- 

 ture of an expressed oil used in oil paint- 

 ing, lubricating fine machinery, and in 

 lighting. This tree covers large tracts of 

 land in Northern Brazil, along the Ama- 

 zon and Orinoco rivers. 



Granville Lowthee 



Bread Fruit 



Artocarpus incisa 

 A tree of the natural order Urticaceae, 

 native of the Indian archipelago and of 

 the Southern Pacific islands. It attains 

 a height of 30 or 40 feet; is often limbless 

 for half its height, bears leathery, glossy 

 dark green, three to nine-lobed leaves, one 

 to three feet long; has compact club- 

 shaped, yellow catkins of male flowers, 9 

 to 15 inches long, and sub-globular heads 

 of female flowers, with spongy recep- 

 tacles; and usually seedless, spheroidal 

 fruits, at first green, later brown, and 

 lastly yellow, six inches or more in diam- 

 eter, hanging by thick stalks singly or 



