660 
Blueberry or Huckleberry 
It seems not quite settled where the 
name huckleberry originated as applied 
to a species of bush fruits of the genus 
Gaylussacia. They grow principally in 
the Northern hemisphere in North Amer- 
ica and North Britain. The plant varies 
greatly in size from about six inches in 
height to ten feet. The berries are small, 
put highly prized for their flavor; not 
highly profitable commercially because of 
the amount of labor necessary in picking 
and marketing. Yet no one who has 
picked the native wild huckleberry would 
desire to see them displaced from the 
markets of the world. Therefore consid- 
erable effort has been made to improve 
the varieties so that they can be mar- 
keted profitably in competition with other 
fruits. 
GRANVILLE LOWTHER 
Improvement of Blueberries 
C. B. SMITH 
An investigation of this subject has 
been undertaken by the Maine station. 
In a report of that station it is stated 
that blueberries are found growing in 
great quantities in many of the Eastern 
and Northern states on soils which are, 
as a rule, of little or no value for general 
agricultural purposes, but that while the 
berries have been highly prized as an 
article of food from the earliest colonial 
period, “practically no attention has been 
given to the cultivation and systematic 
improvement of the fruit.” Plants have 
from time to time been introduced into 
gardens with good results, and the man- 
agement of blueberry barrens has occa- 
sionally been undertaken. An account of 
an experiment of the latter kind is re- 
ported by the Maine station. The blue- 
berry lands described consist of 40,000 
acres belonging to one owner. 
The land is divided into several parts, 
each of which is leased to some respons- 
ible party who assumes the whole care of 
burning over the land, keeping off tres- 
‘passers, harvesting, and marketing the 
fruit. * * * Every year a certain sec- 
tion of each “lease” is burned over. This 
burning must be done very early in the 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
spring before the ground becomes dry, 
otherwise the fire goes too deep and 
humus is burned from the ground and 
most of the bushes are killed Many hun- 
dred acres of what would be the best 
part of the barrens have thus been ruined 
The method most commonly used in burn- 
ing a given area is for the operator to 
pass around the section to be burned, 
and drag after him an ordinary torch or 
a mill lamp. He then retraces his steps 
over the burned area, setting after-fires 
in the portions which have escaped, and 
pack-firing if there is danger of spread- 
ing unduly over areas which it 1s desired 
to leave unburned. A device which was 
found in use by one party consists of a 
piece of half-inch gas pipe bent at the 
end at an angle of about 60 degrees. The 
end opposite the bent portion is closed 
with a cap or plug, and in the other end, 
after filling the pipe with kerosene, is 
placed a plug of cotton waste or tow. This 
device is regarded as superior to the 
lamp or torch as it is more easily 
handled. 
Systematically treated blueberry fields 
are burned over about once every three 
years. This burning renews the bushes 
and tends to check the growth of under- 
brush. 
The early ripening fruits on these lands 
are picked by hand and sent to the city 
markets, usually in quart boxes. Later 
in the season the fruit is sent to the can- 
neries. On the older barrens, especially 
on areas which are to be burned over 
the following spring, the fruit is gath- 
ered with a “blueberry rake.” 
This is an implement somewhat similar 
to the cranberry rake in use on Cape Cod, 
and may be likened to a dust pan the bot- 
tom of which is composed of stiff parallel 
wire rods. The fruit may be gathered 
much more quickly and more cheaply by 
means of the rake. The bushes are, how- 
ever, seriously injured by the treatment. 
In no case should the rake be employed 
in gathering the high-bush blueberries. 
At the New York state station consid- 
erable difficulty was met with in growing 
seedling plants of the high-bush huckle- 
berry (Vaccinium corymbosum) because 
