ANNUAL REPORT, 1943-44 61 



In spite of the severe cold during the winter of 1942-4v^, blueberries were not 

 severely injured. There was some injury to Cabot, both to the buds and wood. 

 Injury to fruit buds of other varieties was very light. In spite of the cold winter, 

 the 1.4 acres yielded 3800 quarts in 1943. The winter of 1943-44, although not 

 extremely cold, was much harder on the blueberry plants; in fact, injury was the 

 worst it has ever been at Amherst. A few plants were killed to the ground and 

 a very considerable number had half or more of the wood killed. Injury was 

 worst on stems 4 years old and older and on tender tips. There was little injury 

 to vigorous young stems 3 years old or less. Also, it was noticeable that vigorous 

 young shoots from stems 4 years old or older were injured much worse than the 

 same type of growth from stems 3 years old or less. Injury to varieties from worst 

 to least was as follows: Rubel, Number 73, Cabot, Scammell, Pioneer, Wareham, 

 Pemberton, Stanley, Concord, Jersey. It was very unusual to have Rubel 

 injured so badly, for this has been considered one of our most hardy varieties. 



A severe frost on May 19, 1944, killed some tender tips of shoots and the mar- 

 gins of young leaves, and reduced the crop by perhaps 10 percent, although in 

 many cases it was difficult to tell whether failure of berries to develop was due to 

 winter injury or to the frost. It is estimated the 1944 crop will not exceed 20 

 percent of the 1943 crop. 



Jersey continues to look more promising as a commercial variety. The fruit 

 is large and very attractive, the quality is excellent if the berries are allowed 

 to ripen, yields are high, and the bushes are very vigorous and appear to be 

 winter hardy. 



Wareham continues to produce large crops of large, fine-flavored berries, and 

 ripens part of its crop after other varieties are all picked. However, it has two 

 weaknesses which are serious enough to make its value as a commercial berry 

 questionable: the berries crack badly after rains, and it appears to be very suscep- 

 tible to mummy berry. 



Some budded branches of a few U.S.D.A. seedlings produced a few berries 

 for the first time in 1943. The fruit of F-72 is dark like Wareham but much larger. 

 It is a little tart for eating fresh, but should make a good pie berry, for which 

 purpose it was selected. It gives promise of being a heavy producer but had 

 some mummy berry. It ripens late. R-86 has very attractive berries of a good 

 blue color. Flavor is excellent, but size is not outstanding. It ripens late. U-85 

 is also late ripening. The berries are very large and attractive, but not quite so 

 good in flavor as Pemberton. V-20 has berries as large as Pemberton or larger. 

 Flavor is excellent when the berries are well ripened. The scar is large. It 

 ripens late. GN-87 looked promising again in 1943. The berries are large, 

 attractive, and of good flavor. The clusters were larger than previously, and, 

 as a consequence, the berries were somewhat smaller. It promises to be a heavy 

 yielder. Two possible weaknesses appeared : a large watery scar and some mummy 

 berry. 



Nutrition of the High-bush Blueberry, Especially in Relation to Soil Reaction- 



(J. S. Bailey.) An experiment was set up in 1941 to test the eiTect of horse, coWi 

 and poultry manure on cultixated blueberries. So far there has been no evidence 

 of the toxic effect supposed to follow the use of manure. There was no significant 

 difference in yield or size of berries which could be attributed to the kind of 

 manure. A report of this work will appear in Volume 44 of the Proceedings of 

 the American Society for Horticultural Science. 



The difficulty of curing chlorosis by iron sprays or soil treatments indicates 

 that some other element, perhaps potash, may be lacking. This is being in- 

 vestigated. 



