108 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



earthenware pots of suitable size, ordinarily 3-inch pots, in a soil mixture 

 consisting of two parts, by bulk, of rotted upland peat and one part of 

 sand. 



7. Cover the frame with muslin or other white shade suspended above 

 the glass, giving the plants plenty of light but no direct sunlight, and for 

 the first two or three months keep the temperature at not to exceed 65° F. if 

 practicable. When subjected to high temperatures the newly cut shoots 

 are liable to die and rot from the base upward. The outer surface of the 

 pots should never be allowed to become dry. The desired condition may be 

 assured by bedding, or "plunging," the pots in moist sand up to the rim. 



8. Watering should be as infrequent as practicable, only sufficient to 

 keep the soil moist liut well aerated. 



9. The frame should receive ventilation, but not enough to cause the 

 new twigs to droop. These are most susceptible to overventilation and to 

 overheating when they have nearly completed their growth. 



10. After the new twigs have stopped growing and their wood becomes 

 hard new root growth takes place. Then secondary root growth follows, 

 either from the apex of the new twigs or from another bud lower down on the 

 old wood of the original rooted shoot. Until this secondary twig growth 

 takes place the life of the plant is not assured. 



11. Those plants that make sufficient growth to require repotting during 

 the first summer should be set in clean pots of 2 inches larger diameter in a 

 standard blueberry-soil mixture. 



Soil mixture for Blueberries. 



A very successful potting mixture or nursery-bed mixture for 

 blueberry plants consists of one part of clean or washed sand, nine 

 parts of rotted upland peat, either chopped or rubbed through a 

 sieve, and three parts of clean, broken crocks, that is, pieces of ordi- 

 nary unglazed, porous, earthenware flower pots. No loam, and espe- 

 cially no lime, should be used. Manure is not necessary, and in the 

 present state of our knowledge may be regarded as dangerous, 

 although in small quantities it serves to stimulate the plants, at least 

 temporarily. The danger from manure apparently lies in its tend- 

 ency to injure the beneficial root fungus of the blueberry plant. 



The use of broken crocks in the potting mixture is based on the 

 fact th9,t the rootlets seek them and form around them the same kind 

 of mats that they form at the wall of the pot, thus increasing the 

 effective root surface and the vigor of growth. If crocks are not 

 available, the soil mixture should consist of 2 to 4 parts of peat to 

 1 part of sand. 



