mi. 
201 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
BLUEBERRY CULTURE. 
G. IT. M., I'audreuil, IVfs.—What do you 
think of the chances of going into biue- 
berry culture? I have natural blueberry 
ground. Where can 1 get some pointers'? 
You spoke of a bulletin that had been 
issued somewhere. What is this publica¬ 
tion ? 
Ans.— The bulletin referred to is No. 
193, “Experiments in Blueberry Cul¬ 
ture,” issued by the Bureau of Plant 
Industry, U. S. Department of Agricul¬ 
ture. According to this bulletin, two 
methods are suggested for those who 
wish to experiment in the culture of 
the swamp blueberry. 
The first method, suited to upland soils, 
is to set the plants in trenches or separate 
holes in well-rotted peat at least a foot 
in depth, and mulch the surface well either 
with leaves or with clean sand. The ex¬ 
cavations should provide ample space for 
new growth of the roots, not less than a 
foot each way from the surface of the old 
root ball. The peat used may be of cither 
the bog or upland type, as described on 
pages 112 to 35 of this publication, and 
BLUEBERRY IN LIMED AND UNLIMED 
SOIL. Fig. 64. 
should have been rotted for several months 
before using. The soil in which the holes 
or trenches are situated should be such as 
to provide good drainage, the ideal condi¬ 
tion of the peat about the roots of the 
plant being one of continued moisture dur¬ 
ing the growing season, but with all the 
free water draining away readily so that 
thorough aeration of the mass of 
assured. If the surrounding soil 
eiently porous to insure the 
so 
peat is 
is sudi- 
maintenance 
of such a moist and aerated condition, 
without the necessity of mixing sand with 
the peat, better growth, it is believed, will 
be secured than when such a mixture is 
used. 
The second method of field culture sug¬ 
gested is to set out the plants in a peat 
bog after the bog has been drained, turfed 
and deeply, mulched with sand. The treat¬ 
ment proposed is the same as that em¬ 
ployed in cranberry culture, except that no 
special provision need be made for rapid 
flooding of the bog for Winter. The ground 
water in the bog may probably be kept 
with advantage a little lower than is usual 
with cranberries. This method of culture 
is suggested not only because of the close 
botanical relationship of the swamp blue¬ 
berry and the cranberry and the known 
similarity of their physiological require¬ 
ments in the matter of peat and moisture, 
as well as the presence of a mvcorrhizal 
fungus in the roots of both, but' also and 
especially because the most robust growth 
in all the pot experiments occurred when 
the roots of the plant were feeding on 
pure peat and the pots were surrounded bv 
moist sand. In all' the field plantings 
thus far made the plants were set out 
while in full growth. Although most of 
them were in pots when transplanted, and 
therefore carried their entire root system 
with them, nevertheless it is regarded as 
highly probable that a better plan would 
be to set the plants out when dormant, In 
the early Spring of their second year. 
Such a [dan would offer several advantages 
which it is hardly necessary to recount. 
For several days after transplanting, the 
plants were partially shaded. Paper and 
the branches of various trees and bushes 
were tried for this purpose. Pine branches 
stuck in the ground on the south side of 
the plants were found by far the best of 
the shades used. The soil about the plants 
was mulched in most cases with dead 
leaves, held in place when necessary by a 
little earth thrown over them. 
Prof. Coville conducted a series of in¬ 
teresting experiments as to the soil re¬ 
quirements of the blueberry. In these 
blueberry seedlings were planted in glass 
pots, permitting a study of the root sys¬ 
tem, in soils of varying composition. 
Briefly stated, it was found that ordi- 
iiary gay den soil is completely unsuited 
to the blueberry, which requires an acid 
Peaty soil, in which most garden plants 
dwindle or die. Heavy manuring is 
another enemy to the blueberry, but 
most unfriendly of all is a soil made 
sweet by lime. This is told in a very 
convincing way in Fig. 64, where the 
little seedling on the left shows 
growth in peat soil sweetened with lime, 
while the larger plant at the right grows 
in unlimed peat mixture. 
The blueberry also shows an aversion 
to clay soils, and it does not thrive in 
a thoroughly rotted leaf mold, which is 
lacking in acidity. Furthermore, it is 
found that the rootlets of the swamp 
blueberry are inhabited by a fungus 
which is believed to transform the non- 
available nitrogen of- peaty soils into a 
form of nitrogen available for the plant. 
It does not, however, seem to be neces¬ 
sary to inoculate the soil to secure the 
presence of this fungus. 
The swamp blueberry is propagated 
by seeds, grafting, budding, layering, 
twig cuttings and root cuttings. Bud¬ 
ding gave a small percentage of suc¬ 
cess. The surest method of propagating 
a selected blueberry bush is by layering, 
but this is a slow process. Grafting is 
objectionable, because the blueberry 
plant has a habit of continually sending 
up new shoots to replace the old stems. 
Propagation by cuttings either of stem 
or roots is free from these objections, 
the only drawback being the difficulty in 
making a high percentage of the cut¬ 
tings grow. While plants have been 
grown from both root and -stem cuttings, 
BLUEBERRY FROM ROOT CUTTING. 
Fig. 05. 
results were so variable that Prof. Co¬ 
ville does not feel able to recommend 
any particular method at present. 
Curing Over-Limed Land. 
Noticing D. D. C.’s article on page 98 
asking what to do with land on which 
an excess of marl has been used, I have 
noticed several complaints of this nature 
from the eastern part of Virginia, and 
the idea has often occurred that this 
condition could be overcome by plowing 
the land very much deeper than usual. 
A better way would be to run two plows, 
one after the other, as described by the 
U. S. Department of Agriculture for 
eradicating wild onions. If the trouble 
is due to excessive alkalinity this would 
reduce it, but if the trouble is more of a 
physical nature, which I think is the 
case (the capillarity of the soil being 
very much reduced by the microscopic 
shells), the mixing of more clay from 
the subsoil would certainly prove bene¬ 
ficial. c. N. SANDERS. 
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