i8 



PROMISING M^ILD FRLIIS. 



country, where other fruits are abundant, varieties must 

 be produced for that special purpose, and their culture 

 confined to those regions where the fruit will properly 

 develop and ripen. The attempt to introduce little 

 known fruits into unfavorable climates discourages their 

 cultivation in localities where they might be grown with 

 profit. 



Huckleberries {Gayhissacia and Vacciiiium). Over 

 twenty species of huckleberries are found in the United 

 States, besides numerous varieties. They occur in 

 greatest number and abundance in the northeastern 

 states, especially in New England, New York, Michi- 

 gan, Wisconsin, New Jersey and the Allegheny region. 

 Several of the species, including the well known Vac- 

 ciniuiii (oryiiihosxtin, live only in swamps, while most of 

 the others thrive best on light sandy or rocky soils, but 

 where the air is cool and moist. Huckleberries are 

 probably more popular and more largely consumed than 

 any of our other wild fruits. It would be difficult to esti- 

 mate the annual value of the huckleberry crop of the 

 country. Twenty years ago it was believed to be 

 greater than the strawberry crop, but it probably is not 

 now, though it doubtless exceeds that of the blackberry 

 crop, both wild and cultivated. A New York commis. 

 sion merchant estimates the New Jersey huckleberry 

 crop at "millions of bushels" annually. Six hundred 

 and fifty bushels per day have been brought by the 

 American express company into New York city from 

 Ulster and adjoining counties, and the total daily re- 

 ceipts in that city from all sources in the height of the 

 season is said to exceed 2,000 bushels. The annual 

 value of the huckleberry crop of Washington county, 

 Maine, is estimated at fio,ooo. One railroad station in 

 northern Michigan shipped in one season over 1,000 

 bushels, and another in southern Michigan 1,500 bushels. 

 One commission firm in Detroit handled, in i88g, 2,000 

 bushels, mostly from northern Michigan. The annual 

 huckleberry crop of Wisconsin is estimated in a report 

 to the American Pomological Society at 20,000 bushels, 

 valued at between $60,000 and S8o,ooo. 



All this fruit was produced on wild land, much of it 

 too sandy or rocky for profitable cultivation. The 

 abundance of the fruit in the wild state in many places 

 has left no inducement to undertake its cultivation, but 

 these regions are comparatively limited, and are being 

 yearly reduced through the clearing up of the country, 

 so that the question of the cultivation of the fruit, if 

 not already an important one, is likely soon to become 

 so. Attempts at cultivating the huckleberry have been 

 made, both in this country and England, but without 

 permanent success. Tusser, in his "Five Hundred 

 Points of Good Husbandry, " published in 1573, speaks 

 of " hurtilberries " as being grown in British gardens. 

 Between 1761 and 1796 fifteen kinds were introduced 

 into England from the United States. Some of these 

 may now be found in England in a wild state, but no 

 huckleberry is now regularly cultivated there for its 

 fruit. The prevailing wild huckleberry of Europe, 

 Vdciiiiiidi! myrtiUits, generally called bilberry in Eng- 



land, is quite largely gathered for its fruit, but it seems 

 to be less popular than the huckleberries of this 

 country. The only really successful attempts to culti- 

 vate the huckleberry in the United States seems to have 

 been made in New England, principally in Massachu- 

 setts, and have consisted merely in transplanting into 

 open pasture land sods containing the bushes with their 

 roots undisturbed. Repeated failures have attended 

 efforts to grow huckleberries with ordinary garden cul- 

 tivation. The most nearly successful of these have 

 been where mulching was resorted to for the first year 

 or two. The uniform failures, so far as known, which 

 attended the trials of the " blueberry " plants sent out 

 by a certain Michigan man a few years ago may have 

 been due, as was claimed by purchasers, to the inferior 

 character of the plants furnished, but it was probably 

 largely owing to the difficulty of growing these plants in 

 ordinary cultivated land. Cutting back the plants at 

 the time of setting to prevent the formation of fruit the 

 first season, in addition to mulching for one or two 

 years, seems to offer the best general treatment in 

 transplanting huckleberries. It is quite probable, how- 

 ever, that few, if any, of the species can be successfully 

 brought into cultivation without special attention being 

 given to their requirements in the way of soil, as has 

 been done with the cranberry. This will doubtless 

 prove no less true with the upland species than with the 

 swamp huckleberries, especially since it is noticed that, 

 unlike the blackberry and red raspberry, they are gen- 

 erally inclined to disappear instead of increase with the 

 clearing up of the surrounding forests 



Black Walnut [Jiiglans nigra). The planting of 

 this nut with any special reference to its fruit is practi- 

 cally unknown. The tree is easily grown, bears young, 

 is adapted to a wide extent of territory and the nuts are 

 relished by almost every one, being fully equal to the 

 so-called English walnuts. The chief objections to 

 them are their hard shell, and perhaps ' their black 

 color. The nuts vary greatly in size and shape, 

 and in the thickness of their shell and husk. Where 

 walnuts are planted for timber, it would be at least 

 worth while to select the seed with some reference 

 to the character and quality of the nuts. The varieties 

 seem to be inclined to come true from seed, since all the 

 trees of a particular grove or locality frequently bear 

 nuts of one kind. There is also much difference in the 

 rapidity of growth, and other characters of the tree, 

 between different varieties. Some are more inclined to 

 grow tall and straighter than others. 



Butternut {Jiiglans cinerea). This is nowhere so 

 abundant as the walnut ; it is better adapted to poor 

 and rocky soils ; grows at higher altitudes and in more 

 northern latitudes ; ripens its fruit earlier in the season, 

 and does not form so large nor so upright a tree. 



As the tree is less valuable than that of the walnut, 

 it is seldom planted for timber, and there seems little 

 prospect at present of its being grown for its fruit. 

 The nuts, however, are very rich, and have the merit 

 of being able to be cracked with little danger of injur- 



