TAMING THE WILD BLUEBERRY 105 



In seasons in which the wild crop of upland blueberries has been 

 destroyed by late spring freezes, it has been observed that in or 

 around bodies of water, such as cranberry reservoirs or cranberry 

 bogs temporarily flooded to prevent frost or insect injury, the wild 

 bushes often produce normal crops of blueberries. It may be found 

 that provisions for flooding blueberry plantations will save a crop 

 often enough to warrant the installation of flooding equipment. In 

 locating a blueberry plantation, therefore, it would be well to choose 

 a situation that could be flooded, if flooding proved later to be 

 commercially advantageous. 



Importance of Superior Varieties. 



In the southern United States and in the Middle West blueberries 

 are not ordinarily distinguished from huckleberries, but in New 

 England the distinction is very clearly drawn. The name huckle- 

 berry is there restricted to plants of the genus Gaylussacia, the 

 berries of which contain 10 large seeds with bony coverings like 

 minute peach pits, which crackle between the teeth. The name 

 blueberry is applied in New England to the various species of the 

 genus Vaccinium, in which the seeds, though numerous, are so 

 small that they are not noticeable when the berries are eaten. It 

 is probable that the comparatively low estimation in which this 

 fruit is held in the South is largely due to the lack of a distinctive 

 popular name and the consequent confusion of the delicious small- 

 seeded southern Vacciniums with the coarse large-seeded Gay- 

 lussacias. It is the culture of the small-seeded blueberries only, 

 as distinguished from the large-seeded huckleberries, that is here 

 advocated. 



From the market standpoint, the features of superiority in a blue- 

 berry are sweetness and excellence of flavor; large size; light-blue 

 color, due to the presence of a dense bloom over the dark-purple or 

 almost black skin; " dryness," or freedom from superficial moisture, 

 especially the fermenting juice of broken berries; and plumpness, 

 that is, freedom from the withered or wrinkled appearance that the 

 berries begin to acquire several days after picking. Large berries 

 cost less to pick than small ones and bring a higher price. A berry 



