The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-08
EXPERIMENTS IN
 BURBERRY CULTURE


 An interesting and significant feature in the experiments reported in bulletin 193 of the Bureau of Plant Industry, just issued by the United States Department of Agriculture, is the light shed on the possible utilization of naturally acid lands that occupy extensive areas in the east ern United States, to produce the deli cious blueberry or some other crop that thrives in acid soils.
 The department has found by experi- ment how blGeberries differ from ordi- nary plants in their methods of nutrition and in their soil requirements, and by means of this knowledge it has worked out a system of pit culture under which these plants attain development beyond all previous expectations. The failure heretofore of attempts to cultivate blue berries commercially as a market friut, appears to be due to a misunderstanding of the soil requirements of the plants, which, as these experiments show, are radically different from those of our com mon cultivated plants.
 The market would gladly pay a higher price for cultivated blueberres of supe- rior quality. A marked distinction should be made in market quotations between IHe ldIBe pluIlD DlucDeTIy \Senulne Vdc- cinium), whose seeds are so small as to be almost unnoticed when they are being eaten, and the blueberry (genus gaylus- sacia) in which the seed is surrounded by bony covering like a minute peach pit which crackles between the teeth. The failure to make this distinction in nomenclature, and the unsightly condi- ton in which careless handling often pre- sents the berries to the buyer are the
 IL n-.T markets to appreciate the blueberry at its real value. AS the blueberry with stands the rough treatment incident to shipment so much better than most other berries, with proper handling 1t should always reach the market in first-class condition whether shipped from North Carolina to Boston in early June, or Nova Scotia to Washington in late Sep tember, making the blueberry season cover period of nearly four months.
 To those desiring to experiment with field culture of the swamp blueberry, whether with wild plants, seedlings or plants grown from cuttings, two meth- ods of treatment are suggested. both de- duced from the experiments already made. The first method, suited to upland soils, is to set the plants in trenches or separate holes in well rotted peat at least foot in depth, and mulch the sur face well either with leaves or with clean sand. The excavations should provide ample space for new growth of the roots, and the peat used may be either of the bog or upland type. and should have been rotted for several months before using. The soil should afford good drainage. the ideal condition of the peat about the roots of the plant being one of con tinued moisture during the growing sea- son, but with all the free water draining readily so that thorough aeration Of the mass of peat is assured.
 The second method of field culture sug- gested is to set the plants in peat bog after the bog has been drained, tufted and deeply mulched with sand. Just as for cranberry culture, except that no special provision need be made for rapid flooding of the bog for winte and the