What led up to the association between Frederick Coville and Elizabeth White? This 26 year association began in 1911 and continued until Coville's death in 1937. The commercial highbush blueberry industry was born and became established during this period. Frederick Vernon Coville was born March 23, 1867 in Preston, NY, graduated from Cornell University in 1887 and was hired by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a botanist in 1888. His USDA office, labs and greenhouses were in downtown

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... gton, D.C. Washington's urban environment was the first of a number of key circumstances that influenced and hastened blueberry domestication and commercialization. Coville was concerned that his four children (Stanley 11, Katherine 9, Cabot 3, and Frederick 1) would never learn the rural skills that he had acquired in his childhood in central New York. This concern was addressed by spending several summer vacations in rural areas of New England. A geologist friend in Washington, Arthur Keith, told him about a farm, next to his parent's farm, that was for sale near Greenfield, NH. The Covilles bought the 40 acre, former Alexander property, on May 2, 1905. The second key factor was the abundant blueberry populations of, both highbush and lowbush that flourished in the surrounding fields. In 1906, less than a year after coming to Greenfield, Coville said: "that my interest was attracted to the subject of blueberry culture". Previous attempts by others at establishing plantings had generally been unsuccessful. Coville collected seeds in 1906, and a colleague, George W. Oliver, began germination trials that fall. In 1907, Coville began greenhouse studies in Washington on the requirements for growing blueberries. When he returned to Greenfield in 1908, he brought and planted 179 seedlings that had been grown in Washington. Survival was 97% following a dry summer on the low-pH blueberry soil. The first outstanding bush for using in crosses was selected in July of 1908 in a pasture of his neighbor, Fred Brooks, for [...]