Daily Kennebec journal., 1915-12-23
THE BURBERRY IN MA|NE..-
CULTIVATION ON The BARnENS

Orono, Me. Dec. - (SpeciaD The
by Charles d. Woods. director of the
Maine Agricultural Experiment sta
ton at Orono:
Ii response To requests for intclma-
ton concerning the "blueberry mag
got the Maine Agricultural Expert
ment Station undertook, several years
ago, 4 study of the blueberry barrens
with reference 10 insect pests This
work was done by Mr.. William c.
Woods of Cornell University, under
the direction of our Department OF En-
tCmolOsy. as a member of the Sum
mer Staff of Special EntomOlogists' of
this institution.
a bulletin describing the insects
studied is in press and will be ready
for distribution early in 1916. The
introduction gives a general survey Of
the blueberry barrens, as follows:
Perhaps as unique and interesting
an geological community as may be
presented by the blueberry barrens Of
Washington county, which compris@
some two hundred and fifty thousand
acres of interested wild land in the
eastern part of the State, extending
roughly from Cherryfield in the west
TO Machias in the east, and comprising
more especially Deblos and the town
ships numbered 16, II. Is. 10, n and
25 How the barrenS originated is a
matter Of dispute and there are sew
eral theories as to their beginning,
but at any rate this fact is clear: In
this section of the country wherever
the forests are removed and more es-
pecially when they are destroyed by
fire, blueberry bushes tend to spring
up in large numbers. The barrens or
plains" consist of great stretches OF
mostly level or slightly rolling land
more or less broken up by lakes ana
swamps. Climatic conditions such as
characterize the whole coast OF Maine
prevail here: Short summers, which on
the barrenS are very hot, and very
long, cold winters during which, how
ever, the plants are usually well pro-
The average annual rainfall is 10
inches; typically there is heavy rain
fall in the spring followed by dry
period in June, condition when
seems to be favorable to the growth oil
hlueberry bushes. When tested the
soil which is a mixture of sand. gravel
and loan, is found to give an acid re-
action.
In Maine the blueberry blossoms
about the middle of May. and on the
barrens the berries begin to ripen
quite generally by the end of July.
There. the picking season lasts from
the tenth of August until mid-Sep-
tember. The greater part of the bar
rens is owned by comparatively feW
individuals but for moderate rental
thew lease the land to farmers ana
others living in the vicinity who, as
will be explained shortly, take charge
of the burning and picking and in
general care for the property. The
berries are picked with rake some
what similar to that used for gather
ing cranberries, consisting of hat
tray one end of which is prolonged
into a row of 25 or 80 small steel
teeth while to the opposite end
short handle is attached. When in
use. it is swung with a forward-direct-
ed lifting movement More or less
foreign material such as leaves ana
stems is gathered in this way togeth-
er with the fruit, but usually the ber-
ries are given a preliminary winnow-
ing in the field, and this removes the
coarser dirt With the rake, one
man can pick on the average about 3
bushels day and it is estimated that
one acre yields about 60 bushels OF
berries. The land is valued at about
$50 per acre. After the berries have
been winnowed they are packed in
half bushel boxes and driven to the
canneries During the picking sea-
son the pickers move out to the bar
rens with their families and live in