288 HORTICULTURAL MANUAL. 



requires close attention and can hardly be carried on suc- 

 cessfully without a greenhouse or frame." 



The writer's observation and experience has been quite 

 different. If the berries are rubbed apart in sand soon 

 after they are gathered and stratified (5) in box buried 

 outside to retain moisture, they grow as readily as seeds of 

 the currant, grape, or strawberry. Plant in boxes of 

 sandy earth on the surface, pressing them down with a 

 piece of board and cover with heavy paper like verbena 

 seed (11). Kemove the paper when growth starts, but 

 keep in the shade and out of the wind, and mulch between 

 the rows with fine moss. When the plants have formed 

 true leaves the plants should be potted in thumb pots in 

 sandy earth and later as they make growth in four-inch 

 pots. With Iowa-grown seed of the V. Canadense strati- 

 fied and frozen we have had no more trouble than with 

 strawberry-seed, but the huckleberry-seed is a month 

 slower in germination. The selected varieties may be 

 propagated by cuttings of the subterranean stems (49) or 

 by layering by twisting the shoots (53). 



A. S. Puller says: "The huckleberry is one of those 

 fruits which have been always neglected. Why this neg- 

 lect I am at a loss to understand, for it possesses naturally 

 better qualities than the currant or gooseberry. All the 

 Northern species are hardy, producing no thorns, and the 

 berries are more firm than the raspberry, blackberry, or 

 strawberry; consequently they will bear carriage well and 

 are suitable for market. Thousands of bushels are annually 

 gathered from the woods and fields, but these sources of 

 supply will not always be available; besides, we should not 

 be content with depending wholly upon nature for either 

 the necessaries or the luxuries of life while a helping hand 

 would not only increase the quantity but improve the 

 quality. " 



