November 27, 1954—Elizabeth Coleman White, who created an indelible but perfectly edible part of the Garden State by introducing the nation’s first cultivated blueberry, died at age 83 of cancer, on Whitesbog, the 3,000-acre family plantation in New Jersey’s Pinelands where she collaborated on her great boon for the state.
By 2007, New Jersey had harvested 54 million pounds of blueberries. But the multibillion-dollar industry would not have taken off without her dogged pursuit of what many believed impossible.
Today, blueberries come in two varieties, wild lowbush and highbush, with highbush outnumbering lowbush by more than 3 to 1. Before Ms. White began her research, however, no highbush blueberries were cultivated at all in the United States.
Long familiar with cranberry cultivation from helping father at Whitesbog, she turned her attention seriously to blueberries when she came across a 1911 U.S. Department of Agriculture report outlining botanist Frederick Coville’s theories on this.
Coville and White each possessed something the other lacked: he, a formal, extensive scientific and horticultural background; she, financing and a kind of field laboratory--the family plantation--where hypotheses could be formulated and experiments conducted. Soon, he accepted her invitation to come to Whitesbog to study the blueberry problem more intensively.
White’s tall figure became a familiar sight in the swampy areas around her home as she stopped to quiz woodsmen about everything they knew about the blueberry: plant vigor, resistance to cold and disease, flavor, texture, productivity and the time of ripening.
But "Miss Lizzie" didn’t stop there:
* She asked people to list wild bushes that contained the best berries in a 20-mile radius around Whitesbog.
* She provided incentives for reporting information to her by a) offering bounties from $1 to $3 each for marking the largest berry on each bush, and b) naming new varieties after these finders.
* She documented in detail the growth and character of each berry variety.
Coville used White’s field work to cross-fertilize varieties until he came up with a commercially viable blueberry in 1916.
Nor did White’s contribution to horticulture end there:
* She introduced cellophane to package blueberries for shipment to stores for sale.
* She helped establish the New Jersey Blueberry Cooperative in 1927.
* She rescued the native American holly—and where would we be in the holiday season without that?
Nancy O’Mallon has directed a 45-minute documentary on Ms. White, available on DVD, called The Mighty Humble Blueberry. You can see a portion of this on YouTube here.
By 2007, New Jersey had harvested 54 million pounds of blueberries. But the multibillion-dollar industry would not have taken off without her dogged pursuit of what many believed impossible.
Today, blueberries come in two varieties, wild lowbush and highbush, with highbush outnumbering lowbush by more than 3 to 1. Before Ms. White began her research, however, no highbush blueberries were cultivated at all in the United States.
Long familiar with cranberry cultivation from helping father at Whitesbog, she turned her attention seriously to blueberries when she came across a 1911 U.S. Department of Agriculture report outlining botanist Frederick Coville’s theories on this.
Coville and White each possessed something the other lacked: he, a formal, extensive scientific and horticultural background; she, financing and a kind of field laboratory--the family plantation--where hypotheses could be formulated and experiments conducted. Soon, he accepted her invitation to come to Whitesbog to study the blueberry problem more intensively.
White’s tall figure became a familiar sight in the swampy areas around her home as she stopped to quiz woodsmen about everything they knew about the blueberry: plant vigor, resistance to cold and disease, flavor, texture, productivity and the time of ripening.
But "Miss Lizzie" didn’t stop there:
* She asked people to list wild bushes that contained the best berries in a 20-mile radius around Whitesbog.
* She provided incentives for reporting information to her by a) offering bounties from $1 to $3 each for marking the largest berry on each bush, and b) naming new varieties after these finders.
* She documented in detail the growth and character of each berry variety.
Coville used White’s field work to cross-fertilize varieties until he came up with a commercially viable blueberry in 1916.
Nor did White’s contribution to horticulture end there:
* She introduced cellophane to package blueberries for shipment to stores for sale.
* She helped establish the New Jersey Blueberry Cooperative in 1927.
* She rescued the native American holly—and where would we be in the holiday season without that?
Nancy O’Mallon has directed a 45-minute documentary on Ms. White, available on DVD, called The Mighty Humble Blueberry. You can see a portion of this on YouTube here.
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