28 



MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 332 



canning. Half-barrel boxes as cranberry containers were introduced to the 

 trade about 1914 and by 1922 had largely displaced barrels. Quarter-barrel 

 boxes, introduced in 1926, were used nearly as much as half-barrel boxes two 

 years later and had almost completely replaced them by 1931. A record of 

 cranberry prices before 1901 is given in Table 21 (in appendix). 



The effective producing cranberry acreage of the country is now less than it 

 has been at any time since 1905 due largely to the damage done by the false 

 blossom disease, especially in New Jersey. On the other hand, population in 

 the United States, where most of the crop is marketed, has increased from a 

 total of seventy-six million persons in 1900 to one hundred and twenty-three 

 million in 1930. This suggests that the cranberry industry is not over- 

 expanded. If there were a light crop and generally prosperous conditions 

 prevailed, cranberry prices might become high enough to curtail consumption 

 seriously. This would tend to reduce the level of consumption in succeeding 

 years when a wider market outlet might be needed for larger crops. It is also 

 true that large cranberry crops in times of business depression reduce prices 

 enough to make the business rather unprofitable. Canning of this fruit in 

 recent years has tended to stabilize from year to year the quantity of cran- 

 berries available for consumption by extending the period during which large 

 crops may be marketed. The practice of holding cranberries over in a frozen 

 condition for use as they may be needed for canning has been especially helpful 

 in this connection. 



INSECTICIDES 



Table 14 shows the insecticides used on Massachusetts cranberry bogs in 

 1933 and how much of each. As the growers used no contact poisons twenty- 

 five years ago, depending almost entirely on flooding and lead arsenate to 

 control pests, it is evident that they have greatly increased their facilities for 

 insect warfare. There is still a large demand for lead arsenate, mainly to 

 combat the gipsy moth, which pest is especially persistent in Barnstable 

 County. Over twenty-three tons of this poison were applied to Massachusetts 

 bogs and their surroundings in 1933. 



Table 14. — Insecticides Used on Massachusetts Bogs in 1933 - Pounds 



* Mixtures of fine ground pyrethrum flowers and gypsum. 



