DIRECTIONS FOR BLUEBERRY CULTURE. 3 



fruit abundantly in sandy uplands that are subject to drought, the 

 swamp blueberry grows best in soils naturally or artificially sup- 

 plied with adequate moisture. 



These, then, are the three fundamental requirements of success- 

 ful blueberry culture: (1) An acid soil, especially one composed 

 of peat and sand; (2) good drainage and thorough aeration of the 

 surface soil; and (3) permanent but moderate soil moisture. Under 

 such conditions the beneficial root fungus which is believed to be 

 essential to the nutrition of the plant need give the cultivator no 

 concern, for even if the necessary fungus were wholly lacking in 

 the soil of the new plantation each healthy bush set out in it would 

 bring its own supply of soil-inoculation material. 



Next in importance to soil conditions is a convenient location 

 with reference to a good market. The berries should reach their 

 destination without delay, preferably early in the morning follow- 

 ing the day of picking. To secure the best prices they should also 

 reach the market before the height of the main wild-blueberry 

 season. A situation to the south of the great areas of wild blue- 

 berries in northern New England, Canada, and northern Michigan 

 is therefore desirable. One of the most promising districts for 

 blueberry culture is the cranberry region of New Jersey, for there 

 an ideal soil occurs in conjunction with an early-maturing season 

 and excellent shipping facilities to the markets of Philadelphia and 

 New York. 



Situations liable to late spring freezes, such as the bottoms of 

 valleys, should be avoided, for although the blueberry plant itself 

 is seldom permanently injured by such a freeze its crop of fruit may 

 be destroyed. 



It has been observed that in or around bodies of water, such as 

 cranberry reservoirs or cranberry' bogs temporarih'- flooded to pre- 

 vent frost or insect injury, the wild bushes often produce normal 

 crops of blueberries in seasons in which the wild crop of upland 

 blueberries has been destroyed by late spring freezes. Proximity 

 to such bodies of water is evidently advantageous. 



In regions subject to very low winter temperatures a blanket of 

 snow sufficiently deep to cover the bushes often protects them com- 

 pletely, when tAvigs not covered by the snow are winterkilled. In 

 the very cold February of lOiS the fruiting twigs of lowbush 

 hybrids at Whitesbog, N. J., unprotected by snow, were killed by 

 temperatures of about l^"^ below zero F. Both parents of these 

 hybrids were uninjured at Greenfield, N. H., where the temperature 

 went down to 30° below zero, but the plants there were covered with 

 deep snow. Another observation made in the same season on 

 Crotched Mountain, N. IT., merits attention in this connection. AVild- 

 blueberry bushes 6 to T feet high, the tops of which projected tlirough 



