A 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1207 
New 
The D 
RIGIN OF FRUITS—It is probable 
that all or most of our popular 
fruits were originally wild. They 
have been domesticated, improved 
and made subject to man as the dog, 
the cat and the horse or cow have 
been. Some of them, like the Baldwin apple, were 
evidently superior seedlings growing at random in 
the woods and likely to “blush unseen” until the 
end of their life unless by accident man chances to 
discover them and, noting their excellence, takes 
measures to improve and preserve them. We have 
no doubt there are now growing wild in the north¬ 
ern forests varieties of apples or pears superior to 
Baldwin, Northern Spy or Bartlett. Very likely 
there are seedling hickories which with care and 
full cultivation would excel most of the pecans in 
excellence. Man observes these superior specimens. 
Industry 
n 
Blueberry 
Fruit 
omesticated 
kindness, assuming that it would respond to garden 
culture like most of the lime-loving plants. 
THE BLUEBERRY SECRET.—Finally the De- 
pa rtment of Agriculture and Miss Elizabeth C. 
White of New Lisbon, N. J., discovered the simple 
secret. The blueberry is not a lime-loving plant. 
It does not want rich, alkaline garden soil. It 
knows just what it wants by locating in sour bogs 
or acid uplands, and knowing what it wants it will 
not submit to the wise theories of people who preach 
the title of LLD.—lime, legumes and drainage for 
all crops. The blueberry is an acid soil plant and 
proud of it! Some of the educators who undertake 
to force their theories upon determined country 
people might well take note of this—but that is an¬ 
other story! 
ADAPTING THE SOIL.—At any rate the basis 
for successful blueberry culture lies in adapting the 
She knew many of these pickers personally, and 
observed that now and then they brought in berries 
of very superior size and flavor. Some of them 
were Quite as large as gooseberries. So she offered 
prizes or rewards to anyone who could find a bush 
producing berries of a certain size and lead her to 
if in the hogs. Each picker who cared to try it was 
given rings of certain sizes and these measured the 
berries that were needed. The result was that quite 
a number of very superior bushes were discovered. 
Miss White says that these pickers displayed a most 
remarkable instinct in locating these bushes for 
her. They would plunge into the woods; off the 
road, without any apparent landmark, and go 
straight to the bush. These superior native bushes 
have been used for propagating, and we believe that 
much scientific work at crossing has been carried 
out. These plants are not mere seedlings, dug up 
A Cultivated Blueberry riant Growing at Whitesboy, N. J. Fig. 497 
takes them from the wilderness and gives them op¬ 
portunity to develop, in the garden. 
IMPROVING NATURE.—We are now witnessing 
the domestication of a new wild fruit—the blue¬ 
berry. This fruit has ranked among the best that 
nature has to offer, but for years it .seemed impos¬ 
sible to tame and domesticate it. Taken into cap¬ 
tivity it pined away and died, as wild birds and ani¬ 
mals so often do. During past years thousands of 
'people (have dug superior blueberry bushes and 
planted them carefully in the rich, mellow soil of 
good gardens. These people reasoned that if you 
fake a plant from some thin sour land and give it 
every opportunity of fertile soil, lime and manure 
—of course it will appreciate the change and grow 
larger and finer than ever. It did not work that 
way. The blueberry bush showed itself as truly 
homesick as a boy or girl taken from some sterile 
valley far back among the hills and lodged in a 
palace with all the wealth and formality of palace 
life. Both blueberry and boy would pine away in 
such uncongenial surroundings. In one of his books, 
“A Labrador Doctor,” Dr. Grenfell tells of trying to 
treat two little native boys. He wanted to be very 
nice and so, out of his scanty stores, he made a pot 
of cocoa and gave each boy a good-sized mug full 
They tasted it, but when the doctor’s back was 
turned they poured it on the ground—much prefer¬ 
ring spring water. For many years people who 
tried to domesticate the blueberry killed it with 
soil to the plant. The ideal situation would be about 
what you would select as a cranberry bog. In the 
future great tracts of land now considered too sour 
and sterile for growing ordinary crops will be con¬ 
sidered ideal for blueberries. The crop is now sure 
to develop as a commercial proposition. It will 
utilize great tracts of land well nigh worthless at 
present, and give the market a new and greatly im¬ 
proved fruit. There is also some hope that by using 
acid chemicals ordinary cultivated land may be 
fitted for the crop. It is possible that hy using in¬ 
oculated sulphur the soil- may be made fit for this 
acid-loving plant. As we know, this form of sul¬ 
phur is used to prevent scab on potatoes by making 
the soil somewhat acid, so that the scab germ will 
develop slowly if at all. Such chemicals as acid 
phosphate, sulphate of ammonia or sulphate of 
aluminum may be used for the purpose. Perhaps 
ii; time we may learn how to grow good blueberries 
in common garden soil by using these acid chemi¬ 
cals. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH THE PLANT. — Miss 
White’s development of this fruit shows in a most 
interesting way how these superior wild things may 
be captured and held in captivity. The blueberry 
does not come true from its seeds. The actual wood 
of the superior plant must be used as grafts or root¬ 
ed cuttings if its character is to be maintained. 
Miss White lives in a section where great quan¬ 
tities of wild blueberries are picked and marketed. 
in the woods at random, but each plant has been 
propagated from a cutting or grafted with wood 
from some known variety, so that a plantation of 
these blueberries is as true to name as an orchard 
of McIntosh or Baldwin apples would be. The pic¬ 
ture shows Miss White with one of these superior 
plants in bloom. Aside from its value as a fruit 
producer, this bush is as beautiful as an ornamental 
shrub. Those who follow this blueberry culture are 
witnessing the beginning of a great new industry 
which will, without question, add a new domestic 
fruit to our list, and give value to much land now 
lying idle and useless. 
Getting the Most out of Radio 
I OFTEN wonder if you and I are getting the 
most out of radio, the new friend of all of us, 
if we realize just how much it may do for us in so 
many different ways; so I’m going to tell you just 
a few things that it has done for our family and for 
others, and what it may do for you. 
Have you ever been “shut-in” with the deep snow¬ 
drifts in the middle of Winter, wishing that you 
could go to church and yet not being able to do so? 
I have, and yet Sunday after Sunday our family 
have listened to church services from Schenectady, 
Pittsburgh, Chicago, and other cities; listened to 
famous preachers, heard wonderful choirs and 
music, all in our home where we all could get the 
