Her first job at the bogs in 1893 was handing out tickets to the harvest crew in return for the boxes of cranberries that they picked by hand during the fall months. During the next 18 years, Elizabeth exhibited interest in finding ways to continue the improvement of the business at Whitesbog which was rapidly expanding into the largest cranberry operation in the state. During the first decade of the twentieth century, she collaborated with Dr. John B. Smith, a government entomologist, who studied and eliminated a type of katydid that was ruining the crops. Realizing the potential value of the work, Elizabeth contacted Coville to offer him support in his work. Like the cranberry, the blueberry thrives on the acid soil of this region.
Blueberries ripen earlier than do cranberries.
Their harvesting in July thus complements the cranberry harvest of the fall. Many tried to cultivate the plants in their gardens but without success. We knew the wild bushes were very, very different. At that time, it was said among the farmers of New Jersey that blueberries could not be cultivated. In 1916, only five years after Elizabeth White's alliance with Dr. Coville, they had managed to cultivate and produce a blueberry crop for sale.