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Wednesday, July 12, 2023

If Selling Wild Blueberries Is Profitable, Think of Cultivating Them, July 12, 1923

Blueberries of Sampson Profitable Pickings

Half a dozen varieties of wild blueberries are indigenous to various localities in North Carolina, but the “Sampson Blue” is the premier of all, and that famous North Carolina fruit of the forests also is America’s favorite blueberry. The Sampson Democrat has been telling us of the thousands of dollars worth of wild berries, gathered and shipped this last season from Clinton and other stations, and one of the paper’s latest tributes to the Sampson Blue is that so far this season, Wesley Faircloth’s family have picked $100 worth of blues from10 acres of woodland near town. Allowing $70 out of the 100 for the cost of picking, The Democrat says the $30 net is 6 per cent income on a $50 acre valuation. Editor Peterson sees great possibilities in the cultivation of Sampson Blues, for he says:

“We are convinced that huckleberry culture in this county would be a profitable one. It will cost less to set an acre in peaches. Moreover, there would be less attendant cost of spraying, etc., while the life of the huckleberry plant would be almost unlimited. If a Wesley Faircloth can harvest more than $10 an acre from the natural growth of the berry in the woods, when the plants are numbered with toher growth and when many of the berries are of small size, it is clear that a cultivated acre would make real money. We believe that any man that will start a grove of superior berries will have started a money-making enterprise. One thousand dollars an acre of the finest varieties of big blues will beat that in full crop years. We suggest that people who have large berries located try the following plan this season as a test: Cut a long root loose from the bush and chop it up into several foot lengths, leaving it attached to the soil with the string roots. Cover the cut places with soil and if necessary put more dirt over the root pieces to retain the moisture. Sprouts should come immediately. Lift these roots with sprouts next Fall and set in proper soil and cultivate. Try one root this season and if the plan ?? work it on a large scale next year.”

That is a fine proposition, and the suggestion should not be regarded as merely interesting but should be acted upon. The famous Carolina blueberry is a midsummer money crop and it follows closely after a $2 million crop of Carolina strawberries has gone forward to the New York markets. Fine peaches are also going forward by the trainload and before the peach shipment ends, along comes the delicious scuppernong grapes, another wonderful native of our eastern Carolina woodland. Many varieties are cultivated and it provides “easy money” at the Summer end. Each season, more than $1 million worth of “scups” are shipped out of this section, and the acreage could easily be made 10 times that at present, provided an industrial plant be established to utilize the production.

From the Wilmington News as reprinted on the front page of The Mooresville Enterprise, Thursday, July 12, 1923

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