CHAPTER XXIII 

 BLUEBERRIES AND HUCKLEBERRIES 



Several species of blueberries and huckle- 

 berries are now under process of domestication, 

 though all attempts in the past to bring these 

 fruits under cultivation have failed. Failure 

 seems to have been due to the fact that two 

 peculiarities in the nutrition of these plants 

 were not recognized. Heath-plants will not 

 grow in soils with an alkaline or neutral reac- 

 tion; nor without the companionship of a 

 beneficial root-fungus. It has been known for 

 many years that these plants will grow only 

 in acid soils, but only recently was the dis- 

 covery made that there is an association be- 

 tween them and a root-fungus which is in- 

 dispensable to their well-being. With an acid 

 soil and proper conditions for the root-fungus, 

 it is demonstrated that these fruits can be 

 cultivated profitably. There is now little ques- 

 tion that sometime there will be numerous 

 varieties of cultivated blueberries and huckle- 

 berries to enrich pine plains, mountain lands, 

 swamps, heaths, and gardens that have proper 

 soil conditions. Cultivated blueberries and 

 huckleberries would add much to fruit-grow- 

 ing, for these are among the best of small- 

 fruits, and by far the most valuable wild 

 fruits of this continent, the crop selling for 

 several million dollars annually. 



BLUEBERRIES 



What blueberries offer possibilities for cul- 

 tivation? Eight species of Vacciniums, the 

 true blueberries, are worthy of consideration. 

 All are distributed rather widely in the United 

 States and Canada; all yield fruits valuable as 

 esculents; and all give promise for domestica- 

 tion. 



1. Vaccinium corymbosum, Linn. Fig. 291. High 

 Blueberry. Swamp Blueberry. Plants tall, 4-12 feet 

 high, with yellowish green, warty branchlets. Leaves 

 l%-3 inches long, ovate to elliptic-lanceolate, smooth or 

 slightly hairy beneath, the margins entire, half-grown at 

 flowering time. Corolla white or pinkish, %-% inch 

 long, ovoid to cylindric-urn shaped. Fruit blue-black 

 with bloom % - % inch in diameter ; flavor sweet, rich, 

 excellent. 



This species inhabits bogs and moist woods, 

 and is sometimes found on heaths and in pas- 

 tures from Maine to Minnesota and south- 

 ward. This is an exceedingly variable form, 

 which authorities variously divide into species 

 and natural varieties, or, on the other hand, 

 combine with one or two other species. It is 

 probable that there are many natural hybrids 

 between this and other species. 



The high blueberry is the species most desir- 

 able for cultivation, so far as attempts to do- 



mesticate have yet gone. It is commonly 

 thought that the high blueberry grows best in 

 swampy situations, but it is often found on dry 

 lands and in bogs and swamps, and the land 

 must be dry in the root-forming period of sum- 

 mer and autumn. In culture, this species does 

 not thrive in land permanently water-logged; 

 on the other hand, it requires moderate soil- 

 moisture throughout the season. 



The fruit of the high blueberry ripens from 

 August to late September, and is most variable 



291. High Blueberry (Xy 2 ) 



in shape, size, color, and flavor. The plants 

 range from handsome shrubs ten to twelve feet 

 high in boggy places to low bushes four or five 

 feet high in heaths and pastures. This varia- 

 bility in fruit and plant indicates that the 

 high blueberry is one of the most plastic of 

 organisms, and bodes well for its improve- 

 ment under cultivation. The writer knows of 

 a locality in which plants with large black 

 berries, pleasantly piquant, may be found; 

 near at hand are bushes with blue berries, rich 

 .and sweet, at least a half-inch in diameter; 

 while another form has blue fruits with very 

 heavy bloom and a delicate flavor so sweet as 

 to be almost honeyed. These and other forms 

 might easily by hybridized within the species, 

 or with forms of other species, to the great 

 improvement of blueberries. The fruits of the 

 high blueberry are borne on the extremities 

 of branches of the past season's growth. This 

 species is a handsome ornamental. 



2. Vaccinium atrococcum, Heller. Black High Blue- 

 berry. Downy Swamp Blueberry. This species is so 

 similar to the last that for the pomologist it scarcely 



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