THE BLUEBERRY IN MAINE. 167 



HIGH-BUSH BLUEBERRY. 



5. Vacciniiun corymhosum, L. 



(Vacciniuin corymbosum L. Sp. PI. 350, 1753. V. amoenmn, 

 Ait., Hort., Kew. 2: 12. 1789). 



Tall (5-10 feet), with minutely warty, greenish-brown 

 branches ; leaves ovate, oval or oblong, short petioled ; flowers, 

 appearing with the leaves, equal to or longer than the pedicels ; 

 corolla cylindrical or slightly constricted at the throat, white or 

 pinkish ; berry blue with a bloom. Exceedingly variable. 

 Swamps and moist woods, often extending to dry hillsides. 



This species is very variable, not only in the habit of growth, 

 but in its blooming characters and fruit. Not infrequently 

 individual plants bear large quantities of fruit measuring }i to 

 ^ inch in diameter, while a black fruited variety, (var. atro- 

 coccum, Gray), has small, polished, black fruits, equally as good 

 as the other in flavor. The fact of variability renders this 

 species one of the most promising for cultivation. It flourishes 

 alike in the sunlight and in partial shade ; on the dry upland and 

 in the swamp. It is also worthy of note that plants of similar 

 quality, both as to habit and size of fruit, are usually found 

 associated in groups — a fact which indicates that these charac- 

 teristics are probably transmitted by seed. 



THE BLUEBERRY INDUSTRY. 



The blueberry has been highly prized as an article of food 

 from the earliest colonial period. Up to the present time, how- 

 ever, practically no attention has been given to the cultivation 

 and systematic improvement of the fruit. 



In many of the northern and eastern states there are thousands 

 of acres of land, utterly worthless for agricultural purposes, 

 which after the pine is removed, send up an abundant growth 

 of blueberry bushes, alders, poplars, grey birches, etc., and 

 which, by proper management may, it is believed, be made to 

 yield a handsome profit to their owners. 



In the southeastern part of Maine, principally in Washington 

 county, there are about 150,000 acres known as the "blueberry 

 barrens." This land lies chiefly in the townships of Cherryfield, 

 Columbia, Deblois, Beddington, and Numbers 18 and 19. Much 

 of this land was burned over bv the Indians before the colonial 



