DIRECTIONS FOR BLUEBERRY CULTURE. 19 



as will permit the use of horse-drawn machinery and will make 

 mulching unnecessary. 



The most favorable location for blueberry culture is a moist area 

 with a peat covering and sand subsoil, the peat preferably of such 

 a thickness that deep plowing will turn up some of the underlying 

 sand. 



The land should be so ditched or tiled that the water level can 

 be kept at least a foot below the surface of the ground during the 

 growing season. 



The ground should be plowed to the depth of 8 to 10 inches and 

 repeatedly harrowed or otherwise tilled during the season preceding 

 the planting, in order to kill the wild vegetation. The best time 

 for such plowing is in late spring, after the principal vegetation 

 has used up its winter store of starch in completing its early growth 

 and before the leaves have matured and the roots have begun the 

 new storage of starch by means of which they could send up new 

 sprouts. 



The tillage of the plantation after the young bushes have been 

 set out should be sufficiently thorough to keep down all compet- 

 ing vegetation. This is best done by horse cultivation with a disk 

 harrow, supplemented by careful hand hoeing and hand weeding 

 close about the plants. As the bushes grow older and their roots 

 extend into the spaces between the rows, they develop root mats 

 close beneath the surface of the soil. The tillage over these root 

 mats should be very shallow, not more than 2 or 3 inches. This 

 is probably best accomplished by the use of a small, light spring- 

 tooth cultivator with the teeth set closer together than usual. (PI. 

 XXIV.) 



In case of drought, the drainage ditches may be used to bring 

 in water for subirrigation. But unless the surface of the ground 

 is very level, subirrigation is likely to result in the injury of plants 

 in the lower spots by excess of water. In uneven areas, therefore, 

 surface or overhead irrigation, if accompanied by good drainage, 

 is preferable to subirrigation and should be used if practicable. 



Fertilizer experiments have shown that the application of lime 

 or of wood ashes is positively injurious to blueberry plants and 

 that stable manure, while producing a temporary stimulation of 

 vegetative growth, is likely to cause serious injury later. 



In greenhouse experiments at Washington it has been found that 

 blueberry plants are greatlj^ stimulated by the application of small 

 quantities of soy-bean meal, either mixed with the soil or applied 

 as a mulch. This material is acid, it has a high nitrogen content, 

 and its nitrogen is in organic form. Blueberry plants to which it is 

 applied in spring, as compared with plants not fertilized, make more 



