120 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



The land should be so ditched that the water level can be kept at 

 least a foot below the surface of the ground during the growing 

 season. 



The ground should be plowed to the depth of about 8 inches and 

 repeatedly harrowed or otherwise tilled during the season preceding 

 the planting, in order to kill the wild vegetation. The best time 

 for such plowing is late spring, after the principal vegetation has 

 used up its winter store of starch in completing its early growth and 

 before the leaves have matured and the roots have begun the new 

 storage of starch with which they can send up new sprouts. 



The tillage of the plantation after the young bushes have been 

 set out should be sufficiently thorough to keep down all competing 

 vegetation. This is best done by horse cultivation, with careful 

 hand hoeing and hand weeding close about the plants. As the 

 bushes grow older and their roots extend into the spaces between 

 the rows, they develop root mats close beneath the surface of the 

 soil. The tillage over these root mats should be very shallow, not 

 more than 2 or 3 inches. This is probably best accomplished by 

 the use of a small, light spring-tooth cultivator with the teeth set 

 closer together than usual. 



In case of drought, the drainage ditches may be used to bring 

 in water for subirrigation. But unless the surface of the ground is 

 very level, subirrigation is likely to result in the injury of plants in 

 the lower spots by excess of water. In uneven areas, therefore, 

 surface irrigation, if accompanied by good drainage, is preferable 

 to subirrigation and should be used if practicable. 



Fertilizer experiments have shown that lime is positively injuri- 

 ous to blueberry plants and that stable manure, while producing a 

 temporary stimulation of vegetative growth, is likely to cause 

 serious injury later. For those desiring to experiment with ferti- 

 lizers the following acid mixture is recommended, applied at the rate 

 of 1,000 pounds per acre, or one-fifth of a pound per square yard: 



Pounds. 

 Acid phosphate (high grade, about 16 per cent available phos- 

 phoric acid) 600 



Sulphate of potash (50 per cent potash) 200 



Sulphate of ammonia (20 per cent nitrogen) 200 



(Muriate of potash may be substituted for sulphate of 

 potash.) 



