Elizabeth Coleman White

Elizabeth Coleman White

Elizabeth Coleman White (born October 5, 1871 in New Lisbon , New Jersey , † November 11, 1954 in Whitesbog ) was an American farmer and plant breeder in New Jersey who founded the cultivation of blueberries in the USA. Elizabeth C. White was the eldest of the four daughters of Mary A. Fenwick and Joseph Josiah White. The family lived and worked in Camden . They also ran a farm in the Pine Barrens , from which the village of Whitesbog emerged. E. White was never married. She died of cancer at the age of 83 in her 1923 home "Suningive" in Whitesbog.

family

The family belonged to the Quaker religious community .

Career

After graduating from Friends Central School in Philadelphia in 1887, White began working on her parents' cranberry ( Vaccinium macrocarpos ) farm in Whitesbog. On the side she completed courses in first aid, photography, tailoring and fashion goods at Drexel University .

Around the turn of the century led Elizabeth White a program for read-out of blueberry bushes ( Vaccinium spp.). Their goal was to select cultivable blueberries from wild stocks whose fruits, along with the cranberries, could be marketed by the farmers. White made contact in 1911 with the botanist Frederick V. Coville (1867-1937), who had been carrying out selection tests from wild stocks since 1906. There was a cooperation. While White had the financial means and a farm with the necessary infrastructure for an extensive selection program, Coville provided the scientific know-how. White's father was already marketing cranberries and blueberries (e.g. Vaccinium formosum ) from wild stocks in the surrounding moors and swamps, which were picked by seasonal workers . As part of the selection program, the blueberry pickers were commissioned for a fee to locate the best bushes with the largest and sweetest fruits in the area. Elizabeth White named the bushes after those who found them. The plants were divided and planted under glass, initially on the Whites farm. After only five years in 1916, White and Coville had created a high-yielding, large-fruited variety that was ripe for marketing. The "first cultivated blueberry" was named 'Rubel' after Rube Leek, who found the bush. It was a shrub of Vaccinium formosum from which the wild variety was selected. It is still grown today and is part of a number of breeds and numerous subsequent selections.

Despite her services in expanding the farm, E. White was not allowed to take it over from her father until his death. She built her own house on the farm. She was interested in all the wild plants of their environment and bred different varieties especially the Datura ( Datura ), and Frank lines ( Franklinia ) in her garden to "Suningive". Eventually she founded her own company, Holly Haven Inc., through which she sold her plant selections. She has become a recognized and well-known plant breeder who has been decorated with numerous awards. She received the Medal of Honor from the Horticultural Society of Massachusetts as the highest of all awards received.

swell

• William C. Bolger: Elizabeth C. White. A Biographical Sketch . URL accessed March 29, 2008.