1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
545 
THE BLUEBERRY AND ITS CUL TURE. 
During the past few weeks we have 
printed a considerable amount of in¬ 
formation concerning the blueberry or 
huckleberry crop. Through New Eng¬ 
land and New York State, and also in 
Pennsylvania, this wild crop provides a 
comfortable revenue to pickers and own¬ 
ers of wild land. At the Maine Experi¬ 
ment Station (Orono), Prof. W. M. Mun¬ 
son has given considerable study to the 
blueberry, hoping to be able to show 
how it may be improved by cultivation, 
as many other fruits have been. We 
show at Figs. 186 and 188, page 543, 
two varieties described by Prof. Mun¬ 
son. The dwarf or low-bush berry (Vac- 
cinium Pennsylvanicum) is commonly 
known as early sweet or low sweet, and 
furnishes the greater part of the market 
blueberries in Maine. It is a low 
branching shrub growing six inches to 
two feet high, the fruit is usually large, 
sweet and bluish black, varying greatly 
in form and color. Old plants bear but 
few flowers or fruits in cluster, but 
plants one or two years after a “burn” 
send up a permanent spike so that the 
berries can be stripped off by the hand¬ 
ful and gathered very rapidly. Another 
variety, Vaccinium nigrum, or low 
black, is often found growing with the 
other. The berry is black, without 
bloom, and bushes are usually found in 
areas varying in extent from a few 
square feet to several rods. Fig. 187 
shows a box of blueberries as packed 
ready for shipment. Prof. Munson says 
that this fruit has been highly prized as 
food from the earliest colonial period. 
Up to within a few years, practically no 
attention has been paid to the cultiva¬ 
tion and improvement of the fruit. It 
grows wild on land worthless for agri¬ 
cultural purposes. 
In Washington County, Me., there are 
about 150,000 acres known as the blue¬ 
berry barren. These are burned over at 
regular intervals, and yield fair crops of 
blueberries. One man owns 40,000 acres 
in blueberries which are systematically 
worked. Sections of the land are leased 
to responsible parties to take care of 
burning, keep off trespassers, pick and 
market the fruit. The owner receives as 
rental one-half cent per quart for all the 
fruit gathered. The pickers receive iy 2 
to three cents per quart. Those who 
lease the land and haul the fruit to the 
canning factory, receive one-half to one 
cent per quart. A record of the amount 
is kept by the dealers who handle the 
fruit and pay the royalty. Each year a 
certain part of each lease is burned over. 
This operation is done early in the 
Spring, before the ground becomes dry, 
otherwise the fire will go too deep and 
kill the bushes. The burner walks 
around the section to be burned, drag¬ 
ging after him a fire torch. A device 
often used for this purpose is a piece of 
one-half-inch gas pipe bent at one end 
at an angle of about 60 degrees. The 
end opposite the bent portion is closed 
with a cap or plug. After the pipe is 
filled with kerosene, the bent end is 
stuffed with a plug of cotton waste or 
tow. When this is set on fire, a constant 
flame is maintained, so that the fire is 
easily spread. After this operation the 
plants make a new start, growing with 
vigor and producing excellent fruit for 
a few years. Efforts have been made to 
improve the blueberry by selecting seed 
from the best samples and cultivating 
them in the garden. The indications are 
that something may be done in this line, 
although up to the present time no re¬ 
markable results have been obtained. 
Mr. Edmund Hersey, of Massachusetts, 
says that the plants do not take kindly 
to garden cultivation, being very diffi¬ 
cult to propagate from the seed. It is 
very difficult to graft. This seems to be 
one great trouble with propagating this 
fruit. We have seen several improved 
varieties of the blueberry remarkably 
large and of excellent flavor. It was al¬ 
most impossible to increase the number 
of bushes owing to the difficulty of 
grafting or propagating in the ordinary 
way. Mr. Hersey says that if the plants 
are grown in the garden they must be 
in the shade either of trees or on the 
north side of a board fence. The ground 
must also be mulched with leaves or 
evergreen boughs. W. D. Huntington 
tells Prof. Munson that he has been cul¬ 
tivating blueberries in a small way for 
10 or 12 years, and he is satisfied that 
the venture will prove successful. He 
says he has seedlings in bearing that 
are from one-half to five-eighths of an 
inch in diameter, and single plants have 
produced 12 quarts of berries in one sea¬ 
son. The seedlings of the blueberries 
seem to be quite variable, and most of 
them are smaller than the fruits from 
which the seed was taken. There is cer¬ 
tainly an opening for some one in the 
improvement of the blueberry. If this 
fruit can be improved by cultivation as 
the raspberry and blackberry have been 
improved, there is certainly a need for 
it in garden and field culture. 
A TRIP 70 GEORGIA. 
Among the Fruit Growers. 
1 spent most of my time in Georgia look¬ 
ing over the extensive vegetable and fruit 
plantations. 1 visited the largest fruit 
farms in the State at Fort Valley, Mar- 
shallville, Albany, Silvester and Tifton. 
All the orchards, both plum and peach, 
were severely injured by the freeze of Feb¬ 
ruary, lbya, and thousands of trees that had 
vitality enough to live through the Summer 
of 1891) have since died. In some places in 
extreme south Georgia from 5,000 to 10,000 
trees were often seen dead in a single 
block. As a rule the orchards in this sec¬ 
tion were not as well cared for as farther 
north. It was in this section, also, that 
we saw scale insects in all their glory, in 
one case 150,000 trees were involved, being 
infested with the San Jos6 scale. In an¬ 
other instance 50,000 trees had been dug up 
and burned on account of the attacks of the 
same pest. In south Georgia the scale 
problem is a very serious matter, and it 
will be only by the closest attention and 
application of modern methods that the 
orchards can be saved. 
The new Peach scale, or the West Indian 
Peach scale, as it is called in the North, 
has thoroughly established itself in some 
large orchards. In one instance near Tifton 
10,000 trees have been killed by it, and fully 
as many more in the same orchard were 
infested. This scale came from the West 
Indies, and gives a tree the appearance of 
having been whitewashed. It has never 
occurred in Maryland, and our growers are 
warned against it. It has been found in 
Washington on peach trees on the grounds 
of the Department of Agriculture. In an¬ 
other instance the Scurfy scale was seen 
in a plum orchard of 5,000 trees, where 
every tree was literally covered with the 
pest from top to bottom. It was also on 
peach in the same orchards. I do not 
know of any similar occurrence of this pest 
upon plum and peach. In most cases the 
growers are spraying with 10-per-cent 
kerosene and water, immediately after the 
fruit is picked. At Silvester we examined 
a block of 10,000 three-year-old peach trees 
that had been sprayed recently. In most 
instances the foliage had been somewhat 
injured, and was falling prematurely. The 
spray, however, had killed the young 
scales, but what effect the premature fall¬ 
ing of the leaves will have on the fruit 
buds for next year cannot be stated at this 
time. A 10-per-cent crude petroleum and 
water spray was used on a few trees In this 
same orchard, and the foliage was severely 
injured. In the Fort Valley and Marshall- 
ville sections the scale has been pretty well 
rooted out. In one instance here 30,000 trees 
were consigned to the brush heap and fired. 
By the careful cooperation of the grower 
at these places with the State Entomologist 
they are holding the pest in check. 
The rot, which has been such a serious 
factor ir. this State, was very bad in 
Georgia this season on account of the great 
rainfall in June and early July. By care¬ 
ful, judicious spraying, Mr. Samuel Rumph, 
of Marshallville, one of Georgia’s largest 
and most successful growers, saved his 
crop of early peaches. He sprayed over 
100,000 trees from two to four times with 
Bordeaux Mixture, made of three pounds 
of bluestone and eight pounds of lime in 
every 50 gallons of water. Mr. Rumph had 
a fine crop of Triumph and Early Michi¬ 
gan, while all around him they rotted so 
quickly that hundreds of bushels were not 
picked. We saw very little rot in the or¬ 
chards of the Hale Georgia Orchard Com¬ 
pany at Fort Valley. Here 236,000 trees 
were in bearing, and the rotten or specked 
fruit is picked up daily. It was on this 
place I saw the most perfect system of 
management. Mr. J. H. Hale, who is the 
recognized “Peach King of America,” of¬ 
fered me every facility and advantage to 
see every phase of his system. He employs 
800 laborers during the height of the sea¬ 
son, and ships from 12 to 20 carloads daily. 
The trees are headed close to the ground, 
and the fruit Is easily picked. All the fruit 
from a nine-year-old tree can be picked 
without a stepladder or even a box. In 
many cases one could sit on the ground 
and pick a basket of peaches from one of 
these old trees without getting up. In two 
hours from the time a peach is picked it 
is in the refrigerator car, ready for any 
northern market. I might state here, in¬ 
cidentally, that these cars are iced five 
times between Fort Valley and New York. 
The peaches are assorted by experts into 
three grades and packed accordingly in six- 
basket carriers. 
It was a novel sight to see over 200,000 
bearing trees loaded with golden fruit. 
There was something inspiring about the 
entire place; everybody knew his place, 
and I heard no discord or grumbling, not 
even among the gangs of colored pickers. 
All went with the merry hum of a circus. 
Most of the peaches are packed by white 
girls of the most refined classes. We saw 
skilled artists, music teacher^ and school 
teachers all packing peaches by the beat 
of the band near by. Packing peaches with 
music is a unique sight in itself. Mr. Hale 
is truly a good general, and knows how to 
manage the forces about him in the most 
perfect unison. Everything goes like clock¬ 
work, and from sunup to sundown there is 
music in the air on the plantation of the 
“Peach King of America.” In most of the 
orchards the trees are headed low. They 
prune late in January or early February, 
or just as soon as the weather will permit 
it before growth starts. They cut from a 
third to a half of each year’s growth off 
the terminals. The orchards are cultivated 
regularly, and in some places they cultivate 
both ways at the same time. The trees on 
the Hale farm are 13 feet apart; others vary 
from 13 to 18 feet each way. With low¬ 
headed and well-pruned trees 13 feet is not 
too close; but in most instances it is better 
to have them farther apart. The first four 
or five years of the tree’s growth, cotton, 
cow peas or cantaloupes are grown between 
them. In all, my trip South was one of 
great value to me, and I shall ever remem¬ 
ber it as one of the pleasantest'of my life. 
[PROF.] W. Q. JOHNSON. 
Maha/eb Cherry in Nebraska. 
Q. II. P., York, Neb .—I wish to grow Ma- 
haleb cherry seedlings. Can I do so in this 
part of the country under proper irrigation 
facilities? 
Ans. —Yes, the Mahaleb seeds will 
grow quite well in eastern Nebraska, 
and some import them from Europe for 
that purpose, and I have seen them 
grown on seedling trees in Kansas and 
elsewhere, hut usually it pays best to 
import the one-year-old seedlings. 
ir. e. v. D. 
Canning Pork and Beef. 
J. B. TY, Spickard, Mo .—How are beef and 
pork canned? I suppose that it is cooked 
tender without salt and put in can hot. Is 
any juice of the meat put in the can with 
it? Can wild game, such as turkey and 
deer, be canned the same as beef and pork? 
Ans. —At the large factories, first the 
beef and pork is given a salt cure, and 
it is then cooked tender and put in the 
can hot, with the natural juice that be¬ 
longs to boiled or roasted meat, which¬ 
ever the product may happen to be. The 
can is then sealed and put through a 
process, which protects it absolutely 
against changes in climate or any of the 
other conditions which might cause fer¬ 
mentation or decay of the meat. Wild 
game or fowl, in fact, any of the various 
kinds of meats that are canned, are put 
through a similar process. 
A congress of cider makers will be held 
at Paris, France, in connection with tho 
Exposition, October 11-13. The secretary 
of the congress is M. Jourdain, 21 Rue Mar- 
get, Paris. 
The Colorado Horticultural Society has a 
proposition from the State Board of Agri¬ 
culture to hold a State horticultural fair 
under the direction of the Society in con¬ 
nection with the flower carnival at Denver 
on August 23 and 24. If the public renders 
sufficient encouragement, the proposition 
will be accepted. 
For the land’s sake, use Bowker’s Fer¬ 
tilizers. They enrich the earth.— Adv. 
The University of Notre Dame, 
NOTRE DAME, INDIANA. 
Classics, Betters, Economics and History, 
.Journalism, Art, Science, Pharmacy, Law, 
Civil. Mechanical and Electrical Engineer¬ 
ing, Architecture. 
Thorough Preparatory and Commercial 
Courses. Ecclesiastical students at special rates. 
Rooms Free. Junior or Senior Year, Collegiate 
Courses. Rooms to Rent, moderate charge. 
St. Edward’s Hall, for boys under in. 
The 57 th Year will open September 4tli, 1900. 
Catalogues Free. Address 
Rev. A. MORRISSEY, C. S. C., President. 
CD HIT EVAPORATOR, “THE GRANGER. 
I nUII For family use. $ 8 , $5 and $ 8 . Cir. Free 
EASTERN MFG. CO., 257 So. 5th St., PHILA., 1*A. 
E 
VAPORATINC FRUIT 
Complete rigs for gilt-edge work and big protlts. 
AMERICAN MANUFACTURING CO., 
Box 407, Waynesboro, Pa. 
A POTATO BUB 
Is most useful when he is dead. Kill him 
with “BOXAL,” and prevent blight by 
the same operation. $1 buys 10 pounds. 
BOWKER CHEMICtL CO., Boston. 
“FUMA 
lng small. 1 ' So the weevil, but you 
£uh “ Fuma Carbon Bisulphide 
IJBkllls Prairie Dogs, 
' ' Woodchucks, Gophers 
and Grain Insects.“The 
wheels of tho Gods 
grind slow but exceed¬ 
ing small.’' So the weevil, but you can stop their 
j 1 as others 
are doing 
EDWARD R. TAILOR, Penn Yan, N. Y. 
Cyanide 
Guaranteed 98 to 99 per cent., for generating 
Hydrocyanic Acid Gas 
the most effective fumigating material, to 
destroy scale insects on fruit trees and 
plants. The only positive eradicator of 
the dreaded San Jose Scale. Endorsed by 
all Agricultural Experiment Stations. “ A 
perfect practical remedy,” says Prof. W. G, 
Johnson, State Etymologist of Maryland. 
MANUFACTURED BY 
The Roessler 4 Hassiacher Chemical Co., 
No, 100 William Street, New York. 
The Prosperous 
Farmer ^ 
Farming is a science. To 
farm with profit, the farmer 
must thoroughly inform him¬ 
self onthe subject of fertilizers. 
If he does this, s\iccess is 
assured. Potash is essential 
to every crop. 
We have valuable books telling all about the 
use of fertilizers and Potash which should be in 
the hands of every farmer. We gladly mail 
them FREE. A postal will do. 
GERMAN KALI WORKS, 93 Nassau St„ New York 
