The Garden Magazine, November, 1920 
157 
© Joseph J. White, Inc., 1920 
READY FOR CREAM AND A 
LITTLE— VERY LITTLE— SUGAR 
Rubel excels in size of berries, which are frequently 17 mm. and 
occasionally 19mm. for f inch); Sam, while not quite as large, is 
much earlier in ripening and particularly ornamental in autumn 
foliage and winter twigs; and Harding’s flavor is unsurpassed, 
though the berries are too tender for distant shipment. Com- 
binations of these qualities are secured from cross-pollinated 
seedlings. Thus, two of the most promising hybrids that have 
yet come into bearing, known as 620A and 830C, selected 
from three thousand seedlings of the same parentage, though 
themselves of inferior pedigree as compared with later 
seedlings not old enough to test, have nevertheless proved 
far above the average of selected wild bushes in yield per 
bush and in size of berry. 
The development of propagational methods is too long 
a story to be written here. It is enough to say that in 
contrast to the complete ignorance of the subject on the part of 
propagators a short time ago, the science has been worked out in 
such detail by the pioneer Blueberry growers that from cuttings 
of twigs, roots and woody stems of one bush, thousands of young 
plants can be brought into bearing within three or four years. 
As a Practical Plant for Gardens 
the health of the plants, require acid soil for their perpetuation. 
Therefore the Blueberry, like many wild plants, will not grow in 
ordinary neutral or “ sweet” garden soil. 
(2) Blueberries must have good drainage and aeration. That 
is why they prefer to grow in sand or loose soil through which 
water slips as through a sieve, and where air can penetrate 
freely. Some thoughtful person may object that drainage in a 
swamp is notoriously poor; but if you will notice, the Blueberry 
under such conditions makes for itself a cushiony hummock of 
peat and moss, interwoven with fibrous roots, on which it stands 
above the surrounding wet ground, high and just dry enough. 
(3) Blueberries must be supplied with permanent, though mod- 
erate moisture. The subsoil of that New Jersey field is cool and 
always moist because of subirrigation from the ditch; the hum- 
mock of moss in the swamp is fed from the water around it ; so 
always, where Blueberries flourish, you will find the thirsty roots 
have penetrated to some deep, inexhaustible supply. 
Having these facts established, Miss White found no difficulty 
in providing a congenial home for the Blueberry. 
The Hunt for Bigger Berries 
T HE next problems were the selection of desirable wild 
bushes and propagation from them. This undertaking has 
a flavor of the picturesque. Miss White knew from familiar- 
ity with the swamps surrounding the Cranberry bogs, that 
bushes did exist with remarkably large and delicious 
berries, and that the native pickers of wild berries, 
locally known as “pinies,” were the best agents by which 
to locate these. Consequently she issued to these men 
and women packages containing a gauge of aluminum 
plate punched with a hole sixteen millimeters (f of an 
inch) in diameter for measuring the berries, three jars to 
hold samples, and a bottle of preservative, with type- 
written directions explaining their use. Rewards were 
offered to the finders of bushes with a certain number 
of berries that would not drop through the gauge hole, 
provided, of course, the finder was able to produce 
specimens and re-locate the bush. By this simple 
method, extending over several years, many exceptional 
bushes have been corralled, six of which have proven 
of sufficiently permanent worth to form the basis for 
propagation. The name of the discoverer of each is 
perpetuated in the stock from his or her bush: though 
Rube Leek has been softened to Rubel, the identities of 
Sam Lemon, Mrs. Harding, Russell Grocer, Theodore 
Dunfee and Jim Adams remain unchanged. 
Each of the original bushes had distinct characteristics 
which are apparent in their offspring. Lor instance, 
W HY should all this be of especial interest to those who have 
not built their houses upon the sands of New England or 
the rocks of New England pastures — to the owners of just the 
usual non-acid country places? Because this newly refined Blue- 
berry appeals quite sufficiently to both the gustatorial and ar- 
tistic sensibilities to warrant a little effort in making it feel at 
home on any estate. In winter the bark of the young wood of 
many varieties is bright red, and the bushes glow with warm 
cheerfulness against a snowy landscape or a mass of evergreens. 
The new shoots are rich and bronzy in color, like those of Roses. 
During the early spring the branches are thickly hung with 
exquisite pink buds opening to bells of spicy fragrance and waxy 
whiteness, sometimes delicately tinged with color. The bushes 
are most beautiful just before the fruit is ready to pick in July. 
The crowded clusters of dark blue or black mature berries, con- 
trasting vividly with the pink and violet of the immature, are 
borne in some varieties well above the 
green leaves, in others half hidden 
among the foliage. When frost fin- 
ally arrives, the reds flame up again, 
this time astonishingly brilliant. 
Bushes planted in the open field in 
© Joseph J. White, Inc., 1920 
PROTECTING THE PARENT BUSHES 
Specimens of different strains are protected from over-zealous pickers and from birds 
by a netting cover, easily set aside when observation and measuring time comes 
