Cultivation of blueberries in history

The blueberry is a member of the heath family (Ericaceae) and is native to North America and East Asia. Wild Blueberries emerged on the desolate plain, aptly called The Barrens of Maine, Eastern Canada, and Quebec, following the retreat of the glaciers more than 10,000 years ago.

Blueberry cultivation is thought to have started when Native Americans burned wild stands of lowbush blueberries (V. angustifolium Ait. and V. myrtilloides Michx.) to tend them and to increase production. Wild blueberries were utilized for making medicines, dyes, and flavorings, as well as for direct consumption.

More advanced blueberry domestication began in New Hampshire in 1908 by the United States Department of Agriculture. Highbush blueberry cultivation and breeding programs, which began in the early 1900s, paved the way for the modern blueberry industry

In 1911 Dr F.V. Goville of the U.S.D.A. began a series of crosses among six native selections of three Vaccinium species (V. australe, V. corymbosum and V. angustifoliam). This work led to the release of the first named cultivar Pioneer in 1920.

By the 1930s and 1940s, blueberries were being grown in North Carolina and the West Coast, with further expansion occurring in subsequent decades.

Since 1960 and up to 1977 a further 15 Highbush Blueberry cultivars, have been released to the USA industry by various public agencies.

Since the 20th century American blueberry species and varieties have been spread to Europe. European cultivation of highbush blueberry began after 1920, in the Netherlands. In the following years cultivation spread to Poland and Germany, where the first European blueberry breeding products, crosses of Northern American were introduced.

However, highbush blueberry cultivation did not expand into southwestern European until the 1980s.
Cultivation of blueberries in history

History of Blueberries in America

History of Blueberries in America
The blueberry is native to North America, whereas the closely related bilberry originated in Europe.

This fruit was used by Indians to make pemmican, which is prepared by mixing – sun or wind dried strips of meat with melted fat and various types to bring any of the wild types of blueberries under cultivation because an abundant supply of the wild plants grew throughout the eastern United States and wild blueberries were tart flavored, and the sugar materials suitable for sweetening them were in short supply until the mid – 1800s.

Americans began to consume greater amounts of blueberries after the supply of sugar increased sharply in the latter part of the 18th century, when the fruit became a popular ingredient of jams, jellies, pies and tarts.

The cultivation of blueberries in the United States was initiated in 1906 by Dr. F. V. Coville, a botanist in the US Department of Agriculture who selected wild highbush berry plants from New Hampshire and New Jersey for his experiments.

He noted that the wild plants thrived in swamps, but did not grow as prolifically in other environments.

Hence, he concluded that an acid soil was required.

By 1909, he was ready to begin crossbreeding different varieties in order to obtain higher yields of larger and sweeter berries.

Reports of Dr. Coville’s work were read by Miss Elizabeth White of Whitesbog, New Jersey (a small town located in eastern Burlington country a few miles south of Fort Dix, that was so named because the White family had extensive cranberry plantings in the local bogs.)

Miss White became interested in the cultivation of blueberries because she had often observed the wild bushes growing on her family’s land.

She began a long collaboration with Dr Coville, which resulted in her conducting experiments of her own and her family establishing the first commercial blueberry plantings in America.
History of Blueberries in America

History of Blueberries

According to Native American blueberry is good for health. It helps the woman during childbirth, the tea leaves were good for kidneys and the juice was good for cough. Native American also dried his leave in sun and ground it into powder and us it to make pudding and it was used to season the meat.

Among the first American settlers who saw how American Indian used blueberries was Samuel de Champlain. He saw that the Native American grounded the leave to powder then mixed with corn and honey then water to make a pudding. The settlers also found that the Indians smoked wild blueberries during winter to preserve them.

The Native American tribes revered blueberries and folklore developed around them. The blossom end of each berry, the calyx, forms the shape of a perfect five-pointed star; the elders of the tribe would tell of how the Great Spirit sent "star berries" to relieve the children's hunger during a famine.