GLEANINGS IN BEE GUI. TURE 



August, 1921 



is now making a growth of something like 

 ll^ inches a day. So tlie huckleberry, where 

 it has things to suit it, is certainly a rapid 

 grower. Now as to the quality. 



At Mr. Hornor's, who is a nurseryman 

 (or has been), they gave me a dish of beau- 

 tiful peaches with sugar and cream; also 

 another dish of red raspberries with sugar 

 and cream; and a third one of the new 



The new blueberry produced by the Department 

 of Agriculture by crossing some of the best wild 

 varieties. We are obliged to reduce the photograph 

 on account of a lack of room ; but some of the 

 best berries shown in the picture were really the 

 size of good-sized cherries. 



huckleberries. When I tasted the peaches 

 it occurred to me it would be a rather hard 

 matter to get any fruit even its equal, and 

 I said the same thing of the red raspber- 

 ries. Then I tasted the huckleberries, and 

 these were certainly ahead. I believe Miss 

 White 's cultivated blueberries are equal if 

 not superior to any other fruit I ever tasted. 

 The plant has no insect enemies; and I was 

 greatly relieved when the expert informed 

 me there should be no pruning — let every 

 branch or sucker grow that will grow. As 

 I looked around on that bright morning, es- 

 pecially at the fruit, I said to my attendant 

 that I could almost say with the queen of 

 Sheba, "Behold, the half was not told me." 



Now, there is no trouble about growing 

 this beautiful fruit anywhere by providing 

 rotten leaves or even rotten sawdust or peat 

 from the swamp, with a certain admixture 

 of sand (perhaps about %); but be sure not 

 to get in any lime, and keep packing leaves 

 into the soil so as to preserve the sourness. 

 The plants will probably be high in price 

 for a long while because of the difficulty I 

 have mentioned in propagation. 



I am told it is really true that they are 

 growing blueberries and huckleberries in 

 the eastern part of Florida by the acre; and 



we have just had a sample of the berries. 

 So far, however, they are smaller in size, 

 and much like the swamp huckleberries on 

 the market. We have the promise of some 

 larger ones later. 



There is a small inferior wild huckleberry 

 growing on my own ground at Bradentown, 

 Fla, and I am told they are growing almost 

 all over Florida. We visited one plantation 

 at Dunedin, Fla., where there are about 400 

 plants growing and in bloom. The planta- 

 tion was so full of weeds, however, at the 

 time of our visit that it did not show to 

 very good advantage. 



Below is a clipping just at hand: 



Picking is in full swing on the Sapp Blueberry 

 Farm in Okaloosa County, a large force of women 

 and children being given employment at remunera- 

 tive wages, and the berries are meeting with a 

 ready sale at 15 cents per quart. From one bush 

 so far this year Mr. Sapp has picked over thirty 

 quarts and there are fully two-thirds as many more 

 yet to ripen. — DeFuniak (Fla.) Breeze. 



And here is something from Miss White 

 herself: 



Dear Mr. Root : 



I am so sorry I was unable to personally show 

 you the blueberries the other day, tho surely Mr. 

 Hutton was a good guide. 



He tells me you desire illustrations for an article 

 in your magazine, and I take pleasure in supplying 

 them. 



The cluster illustrates Katharine, a hybrid pro- 

 duced by Dr. Frederick V. Coville of the U. S. De- 

 partment of Agriculture, by crossing two wild 

 bushes. The other picture illustrates a choice bush 

 on which the berries are being measured with a 

 blueberry gauge, and otherwise studied. For some 

 time previously it has been protected from birds, 

 etc., by a screen of netting, which has been set 

 back to facilitate the examination. 



With kinde.st regards, I am, 



Sincerely yours, 



Elizabeth C. White. 



New Lisbon, N. .T., July 11, 1921. 



Our good friend Miss Elizabeth White, who started 

 the work of improved huckleberries. Her broad- 

 brimmed hat does not give us much of a glimpse of 

 her face ; and, altho I was considerably disappoint- 

 ed at not meeting her face to face, it rejoiced my 

 heart to know that she was interested in the feeble- 

 minded of her region as well as in giving the world 

 this wonderful new and luscious fruit. "Ye are of 

 more value than many spairows." 



