UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



1 BULLETIN No. 334 



T*TlY£^ Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry "^j&S/^fv**^ 



j&P' < ^ru WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief JWWt. 



Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER 



December 28, 1915 



DIRECTIONS FOR BLUEBERRY CULTURE, 1916. 1 



By Fkederick V. Coville, Botanist. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Special requirements 1 



Importance of superior varieties 3 



Propagation 3 



Stumping 4 



Soil mixture for blueberries 5 



Tuberiug 6 



Winter cuttings 8 



Page. 

 Propagation — Continued. 



Root cuttings 11 



Treatment of young plants 11 



Field planting 11 



Yield and profits 15 



Conclusion 16 



SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS. 



Success in blueberry culture rests especially on the recognition of 

 two peculiarities in the nutrition of these plants: (1) Their require- 

 ment of an acid soil ; (2) their possession of a root fungus that appears 

 to have the beneficial function of supplying them with nitrogen. 2 



If blueberries are planted in a soil with an alkaline or neutral 

 reaction, such as the ordinary rich garden or fertile field, it is useless 

 to expect their successful growth. In such a situation they become 

 feeble and finally die. Blueberries require an acid soil, and they 

 thrive best in that particular type of acid soil which consists of a 

 mixture of sand and peat. (See PI. I.) 



Good aeration of the soil is another essential. It is commonly but 

 erroneously supposed that the swamp blueberry (Vaccinium corym- 

 bosum) , the species chiefly desirable for cultivation, grows best in a 

 permanently wet soil. It is to be observed, however, that the wild 

 plants of the swamps occupy situations which, though perhaps sub- 

 merged in winter and spring, are exposed to the air during the root- 



1 Revised by the author from the original paper of 1913, entitled " Directions for Blue- 

 berry Culture," which was published, without illustrations, as pages 3 to 11 of Circular 

 122, Bureau of Plant Industry, and was also separately printed. 



2 For a full discussion of the principles of blueberry culture, including the soil require- 

 ments and peculiarities of nutrition of the blueberry plant and the details of the growing 

 of seedlings, consult " Experiments in Blueberry Culture," Bulletin 193, Bureau of Plant 

 Industry, 1910, or the corrected reprint of 1911. Although the edition of this bulletin 

 was long since exhausted at the Department of Agriculture, copies may be obtained from 

 the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, for 25 cents each. 



12904°— Bull. 334 15 



