Then last June I visited with Dr. J. Russell Smith, retired 
economic geographier of Columbia University at his mountain 
retreat in Virginia. After dinner when he was sure I wouldn’t 
forage too heavy on his rare crop he took me to his small patch 
on the Mountain side. 
There—standing between boulders and old stumps were the 
plants of his family patch of Blueberries in all their glory of 
bounteous production. His cultural care consisted of mowing the 
briers and weeds before picking. 
The actual vision before me changed my “passive accept- 
ance’ to a firey zeal. 
IF simple words can convey this picture to you, you'll be 
eating Blueberries too before long and selling the surplus for 
30 to 50¢ per pint. 
Cultural Care: Remember they must have sour soil and 
a heavy mulch. If weeds come through pull them. 
Soil: Anything but heavy clay. If your soil is clay and 
you must have Blueberries then dig a hole 12 inches deep, 24 
inches wide fill with woods soil or sandy loam, then plant. 
Mulch: Saw dust, peat moss, oak leaves, woods mold. 
No manure. 
Fertilizer: Authorities recommend sulphate of ammonia. 
That’s a quick available feed and sours the ground. How I 
did it. Our farm abused by city farmers for years isn’t too 
sweet soiled any way. I planted, spread several hands full of 
a 50-50 mixture of low grade tankage and ground raw phosphate 
rock. These plants need phosphate badly for health and produc- 
tion. But scientists declared that if I didn’t apply sulphate of 
ammonia they would get sick. I then mulched with saw dust 
and cultivated between the rows. They grew like weeds. 
The plants didn’t know science’s deductions, the saw dust 
helped sour the soil, made available the phorphorus in the rock,— 
held moisture. You can do the same. 
JOHN W. HERSHEY, 
Nut Tree Nurseries, 
Downingtown, Pa. 
