. Bulletin. Agriculture. BENEFICIAL EFFECT OF PEAT. 31 nize soil acidity as a fundamental requirement of these plants. It was perhaps natural to give the blueberry the same garden culture that when applied to other bush fruits has resulted in their distinct improvement. But the ordinary garden operations tend to make even an acid soil neutral or alkaline, and in such a soil the blueberry does not thrive. The death and decay of blueberry roots, with which the injurious effect of alkaline soils is associated, are discussed on pages 64 and 05. (7) The favorite type of acid soil for the swamp blue
. Bulletin. Agriculture. BENEFICIAL EFFECT OF PEAT. 31 nize soil acidity as a fundamental requirement of these plants. It was perhaps natural to give the blueberry the same garden culture that when applied to other bush fruits has resulted in their distinct improvement. But the ordinary garden operations tend to make even an acid soil neutral or alkaline, and in such a soil the blueberry does not thrive. The death and decay of blueberry roots, with which the injurious effect of alkaline soils is associated, are discussed on pages 64 and 05. (7) The favorite type of acid soil for the swamp blueberry is peat. Although the swamp blueberrj^ sometimes grows on upland soils its typical habitat, as its name implies, is in swamps or bogs. The cranberry, it is well known, is cultivated al- most exclusively in bogs. In clearing bog land pre- paratory to the planting of cranberries one of the necessary precautions is to remove all roots of the SAvaniiD blueberry. If the roots are allowed to re- nuiin in the ground, they send u]) vigorous shoots, and these, unless pulled, develop into robust plants which occupy the ground to the great injury of the cranberries. Large, healthy, and productive bushes of the swamp blue- berry are frequent, almost characteristic, inhabitants of the uncultivated bor- ders of cranberrv boo:s. Peat bogs, in the con- ception of geologists, are incipient coal beds. The transformation of peat into coal occupies very long periods, perhaps some uiillions of years. Peat is made np chiefly of vegetable matter, the dead leaves, stems, and roots, of bog plants which are only partly decayed. Their full decay is prevented primarily by the presence of w^ater, which keeps away the air. The bacteria, 193. Fig. 10.—Blueberry seedling fed with acid nutrient solution. ( Natural size. I. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not
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