DIRECTIONS FOR BLUEBERRY CULTURE. . 19 
as will permit the useyof 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 lill 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 greatly 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 
