March, 1938] Agricultural Research in N. H. " 17 



Blueberry Variety Improvement 



Throughout the state there seems to be a growing interest in the cul- 

 tivation of the highbush blueberry. Although some of the commercial 

 varieties which originated in New Jersey are being planted and have 

 been grown quite successfully in Massachusetts and Michigan, there is 

 some question as to their hardiness in this climate. To test this and 

 other commercial characteristics, several varieties are now being grown 

 under sod culture at the Horticultural Farm by L, P. Latimer, W. W. 

 Smith and M. A. Tingley. Sod is used because blueberry culture under 

 cultivation in this state would be difficult and expensive. Last year 

 many of these plants bore a very good crop. It was noticeable that al- 

 though some of these plants had large blueberries comparing favorably 

 with commercial blueberries from cultivated fields, those that were heav- 

 ily loaded bore a great many blueberries no larger than those from 

 many of our best wild highbush plants. The small size of berries on 

 these plants was due in part to the lack of pruning. This may indicate 

 that we have wild plants which if cultivated would produce berries as 

 good as any of the present named varieties. 



We believe that because of the great variability in wild blueberries 

 selection from wild seedlings is more promising than hybridization. 

 Efforts are being made to locate the very best plants in the state ; then 

 they are to be cultivated and compared with the varieties we already 

 have. This is essentially the process that was carried out in New Jer- 

 sey in originating our present commercial varieties of highbush blue- 

 berries. It is hoped that our own selections will give us hardier va- 

 rieties of equal merit in other respects. 



Last fall a large quantity of hardwood cuttings of Rubel were 

 propagated by the method described by the Michigan Experiment Sta- 

 tion. Owing to lack of space in the propagating frames some of them 

 were held over winter in storage and these formed heavy callus tissue 

 on tlie cut ends. If callus formation is the first step towards rooting, 

 this practice may always be advisable. It is to be tested further. 



A root initiating material, indolebutyric acid, was tried on some of 

 these highbush cuttings but without any success. Most of the research 

 with this material has been on soft wood cuttings and, as Zimmerman 

 and Hitchcock point out, is proportional to the amount of material taken 

 up by the conductive tissue of the cutting. Since there is no transpira- 

 tion stream in the leafless hardwood cuttings, they have no way of pick- 

 ing up this material except by absorption. {Hatch Fund) 



Peach Fertilizer Study 



The peach orchard has been divided into five plots, in two of which 

 each tree receives two pounds of nitrate of soda and in three, four 

 pounds. These trees planted in 1918 are now rather old, and in addi- 

 tion they have been weakened in recent years by severe winter weather. 

 It was often assumed that such trees require a high plane of nitrogen 

 fertilizer. However, both for the yields of 1937 and for the past two 

 years, the extra nitrogen has produced no increase in the yield of the 

 fruit. {Hatch Fund) 



