492 BUSH-FRUITS 



to be assured, for it certainly is a promising one. Though modest 

 and retiring, it has far more graces than most of our garden fruits, 

 and no menacing thorns stand ready to repel the caress of its 

 admirers. 



Commercially, the huckleberry is a fruit of very considerable 

 importance, being gathered and shipped into the city markets in 

 large quantities. The receipts in New York city are said to 

 exceed 2,000 bushels per day in the height of the season, while 

 the entire quantity sold is estimated to be ten times that of any 

 other berry. * The annual huckleberry crop of Wisconsin has 

 been estimated at 20,000 bushels, valued at between $60,000 and 

 $80,000. 



So little has been done with this fruit that not much can be 

 said of the soil and location best adapted to its culture, other than 

 that the nearer the approach to the normal conditions of the spe- 

 cies in hand, the more likely are the results to be satisfactory. 

 With the high-bush or swamp varieties, a moist, sandy loam or 

 mucky soil would seem to be desirable. They have been found to 

 transplant readily when grown in deep, sandy soil. With the low 

 blueberries, which grow upon high, rocky mountains, often with 

 but a few inches of mould and broken stones covering the solid 

 rock beneath, a near approach to these conditions would seem to 

 offer the best chance of success. The high varieties, at least, 

 seem to be benefited as much as other fruits by a dressing of well- 

 rotted manure. 



As before intimated, the difficulty of propagation is the chief 

 hindrance to extensive cultivation of these fruits, yet with care 

 and skill the operation becomes entirely feasible. On this point 

 there is probably no better authority in the United States than 

 Jackson Dawson, and we cannot do better than take his direc- 

 tions. He says:t 



"The growing of huckleberries and blueberries from seed 

 requires close attention, and can hardly be carried on success- 

 fully without a greenhouse or frame. The best soil to use for 

 them is sand and loam in equal parts, care being taken that the 

 sand is free from clay or iron. Shallow earthen pans are better 



*Amer. Gar. 12: 18, 565. 

 tGarden and Forest, 1:183. 



