Besides the northern highbush blueberry, the southern rabbiteye seems promising. It is much more drought- and heat-resistant than the northern highbush and can be grown on higher land. It can be grown from southern Arkansas and Louisiana to northern Florida and eastern North Carolina. Several varieties are being propagated; among the best are Myers, Clara, and Owens. Myers and Clara have fairly blue berries; the Owens has black fruit. In shipping and storage tests the Myers and Clara hold up well.

W. M. Walker, of southeastern Georgia, has for many years had fishing as a hobby. Much of his fishing has been along the Satilla River, where the rabbiteye blueberry is abundant. He selected many of the best wild plants and planted them in his garden. Neighbors were allowed to pick the surplus fruit. One of them reported the superior quality of his selections to the Department. Sure enough, when a visit was made to his place, among his selections were found better light-blue ones than anywhere else. Three of the best were named Walker, Ethel (for Mrs. Walker), and Satilla (for the Satilla River). These have already been extensively hybridized with the best varieties from other sections and with the best selections from the breeding work previously undertaken. Mr. Walker has wanted others to have his selections and placed no restrictions on them. He gave the Georgia Coastal Plain Station at Tifton Propagating wood so that others might enjoy his selections. They are now being propagated for distribution.

The remarkable vigor, productivity, and tolerance of drought and heat of the rabbiteye make it a superior horticultural plant. Full-grown bushes have averaged more than a bushel of berries each. The varieties already being propagated are good enough to form a commercial blueberry industry, but the new selections seem very much better than the older named varieties. Myers, Clara, Owens, Walker, and Ethel, selected from the wild, correspond to the Rubel, Adams, Sam, and other varieties selected from the northern wild highbush, while the new selections from breeding work correspond to the first varieties of the highbush from Coville's breeding work—Pioneer and Cabot. The more recent varieties of the northern highbush, such as Atlantic and Pemberton, are better than the Pioneer and Cabot. Likewise, crosses of the best selections of the present rabbiteye blueberries are expected to produce still finer sorts.

The highbush and rabbiteye are just two of the many blueberry species that possess fine horticultural characters. Others, such as Constables blueberry of the high mountains of western North Carolina, and the dryland blueberry of the southern Piedmont region, bear fine berries as they grow unselected in the wild. An evergreen blueberry grows vigorously in barren, dry soils and the hot climate of Florida even south of Miami. Preliminary hybrids with these and other kinds of wild blueberries indicate that they can be of value in developing a great blueberry industry.

The extent of the breeding work now being carried on is illustrated by the work of 1945.

The crosses were made on potted plants brought into a warm greenhouse from outside in January. The crossing began February 5, was at its height about the middle of the month, and continued through March. The berries ripened during April, May, and June and a few in July. The seed was extracted from the berries and stored for "after-ripening" in a household refrigerator until planting time. A large part of the seed was sent to cooperators at experiment stations. The seed kept at Beltsville was sowed on sifted sphagnum moss October 4. In January 1946 the first seedlings were placed in 21/2-inch rose pots and later through the winter additional plants were potted up.

Because the germination was not high, the seed flats have been kept over for a second year to see if more seedlings would appear. The seedlings grow large enough for field planting in late fall and early winter and are large enough for testing their fruit qualities 2, 3, or 4 years later.

THE AUTHOR

George M. Darrow is principal pomologist in the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering.