The Portland daily press., 1900-08-28
BURBERRY AND HUCKLE-
BERRY.
How the Crop Is Gathered on the Blue
sn berry BarTens OF Maine.
(From the Rural New Yorker. }

(From the Rural New York err.
During the past few weeks we have
printed a considerable amount of inform
alton concerning the bIueberry or huck-
leberry crop. Through New England
and New York state, and also in Penn
sylvania, this wild crop provides a com
Portable revenue to pickers and owners
OF wild land. At the Maine experiment.
station (Orono), Prof w. NJ. Munson
has given considerable study to the blue
berry, hoping to be able to show how it
may be improved by cultivation, as II any
other fruits have been. The dwarf CT
iow-bush berry (Vacc1nium PennsyIva-
nicum) IS commonly known as early
sweet or low sweet, and furnishes the
greater part Of the market blueberries in
Maine. 1t is low, branching shrub,
growing six inches to two feet high, the
fruit is usually large, sweet and blush
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
oil by the handful and gathered very rap
idly. Another variety, Vaccinium in
grum, or low black, is often found grow
ing 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. Prof
Munson says that this fruit has been
highly priced as food from the earliest
colonial period. Up to within a few
years practically no attention has been
paid to the cultivation and improvement
Of the fruit 1t grows wild on land
worthless for agricultural purposes.
In Washington county, Me-, there are
about 10000 acres known as the bIaeber-
ry barrens These are burned over at
regular Intervals, and yield fair crops Of
bIueberries One man owns 40, 900 acres
In blueberrles, which are systematically
worked. Sections OF the land are leased
to responsible parties to take care of
burning keep off trespasses, pick and
market the fruit. The owner receives
as reutal One-haIf cent per quart for all
the fruit gathered. The pickers receive
IA to three cents per quart. Those who
lease the land and haul the fruit to the
canning factory receive one-haI to one
cent per quart. A record OF the amount
Is kept by the dealers who handle the
y
certain part of each lease is burned over
This operation is done early in the
spring, before the ground becomes dry:
otherwise the fire VIII 60 too deep and
kill the bushes. The burner walks
around the section to be burned drag
ging after him fire torch. A device
often used for this purpose is a piece OF
one-han inch gaspipe bent at one end at
an angle OF about go degree. The end
opposite the bent portion is closed with a
cap OF plug. After the pipe Is filed 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 main-
ta1ned, so that the fire is easily spread.
After this operation the plants make
new start, growing with vigOr and pro-
ducing excellent fruit for a few years.
Efforts have been made to improve the
BURBERRY by selecting seed from the best
samples and cultivatiug them in the gar
den. The indications are that something
may 70 done in this line, although up to
the present time no remarkable results
have been obtained, Edmund Hersey of
Massachusetts, says that the plants do not
take kindly to garden cultivation, being
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. 1t was al
most impossible to increase the number
ing or propagating in the ordinary way.
MIR. 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 ever
green boughs. W. ID. Huntington tells
Prof. Munson that he has been cuItivat-
ing blueberries in small way for ten or
twelve years, and he is satisfied that the
venture VIII 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
twelve quarts OF berries in one season.
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 certainly 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.