North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["victoria l. caron" <vicaron@gis.net>]

The blueberry book was authored by a woman from Whitefield, NH. She states 
the origin of
cultivated varieties as Greenfield, NH and lists the history of several 
varieties, I beleive one
was Coville. I do not recall any particular details about the man Coville 
himself, that is not
to say it not written, only that it's been a very long time since I read the 
material.
Vic

"J. Rosano II" wrote:

> Vic,
>
> Do you recall in the blueberry book if it substantiated Coville being the
> true blueberry Grandfather?
> Or is there a discrepency Whitefield vs: Greenfield...
> Hmmmmmmm.
>
> John
> S. NH
> "victoria l. caron" wrote:
> >
> >     There was a book I borrowed from our local library years ago and that 
> > I
> > can probably find out the title and author. This book was totally about
> > blueberries and was written by a woman who had bought a property in
> > Whitefield, NH which had a commercial lowbush business. In her book she
> > covered the history of the first several selected and named highbush
> > varieties and their origins (all the Greenfield, NH area). For anyone
> > wanting more info on the history of cultivated blueberries this book is
> > pretty original and should be available in libraries. I'm pretty sure the
> > title is 'Blueberries.' ...................Vic in NH.
> >
> > "J. Rosano II" wrote:
> >
> > > Excerpted from the NH Weekly Market Bulletin...
> > >
> > > Date: Wednesday, August 16th.
> > >
> > > Story: All Cultivated Blueberries Trace Back to Greenfield, NH
> > >
> > > Every pint of cultivated blueberries harvested in the world contains a
> > > little bit of New Hampshire....
> > > As the blueberry harvest for 2000 progresses, it's worth taking a look
> > > at the history of the domestication of the species, and there's nobody
> > > better to go to than Roger Swain, nationally acclaimed writer on the
> > > horticultural subjects and host of the popular PBS gardening series,
> > > Crockett's Victory Garden.
> > > Today's highbush blueberries trace their origins to an old farm in the
> > > NH town of Greenfield that was purchased in 1905 by a USDA botanist
> > > named Frederick Vernon Coville to be a summer vacation retreat.
> > > Coville discovered the overgrown pastures on the farm were full of both
> > > highbush and lowbush blueberries which yielded plentiful fruit for his
> > > family to harvest. Swain writes.
> > > "Nobody contemplated growing them commercially until Coville began his
> > > famous experiments, discovering in short order that blueberries needed
> > > a highly acid soil to grow well. If you plant them in ordinary garden
> > > soil, they will yellow and die.
> > > "In the summer of 1908 he selected a wild highbush plant whose fruits
> > > had a superior size and flavor, which he named "Brooks" after
> > > Fred Brooks, a neighbor on whose land the bush was growing, and a
> > > lowbush he named "Russell" from Frank Russell's place on the other side
> > > of the road.
> > > "Back in Washington he crossed these two berries. They were in essence
> > > the Adam & Eve of the cultivated blueberry," Swain continues.
> > > "The first hybrid blueberry was named 'Pioneer.' It was introduced
> > > along with two others by the USDA in 1920, and the rest, as they say,
> > > is history."
> > > Today there are more than 150 varieties of commercially grown blue-
> > > berries. In the US more than 50,000 acres are in blueberry plantations,
> > > and the fruit is now grown around the world. Coville's experiments have
> > > generated value estimated at more than a billion dollars.
> > > And those blueberry genetics all trace back to a little hill farm in
> > > New Hampshire.
> > >
> > > Thanks to the, NH Weekly Market Bulletin.
> > > Steven H. Taylor Commissioner
> > > NH Dept. of Agriculture-Markets & Food.
> > >
> > > Funny most folks thought we only grew apples in NH.... : ]
> > >
> > > Best wishes,
> > > John
> > > Blueberry/NH
> > >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >                             [Don't just travel. Travel right.]
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>


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