WEATHER AND CRANBERRY PRODUCTION 39 



Bogs Under the Same Management 



Management plays so large a part in the success of any cranberry property 

 that it seemed particularly desirable to get records of bogs with different water 

 supplies which had been under the same management for a considerable period 

 of years. Finally five such pairs were assembled and the information on ^them 

 is presented in Table 2. . 



Table 2. — Wisconsin Cranberry Properties, Under the Same 

 Management, But With Different Water Supplies. 



(Bogs in the same horizontal line are known to have been under the same 

 management for a considerable period. pH represents an average of all available 

 readings for the water supply, and the success of the property is indicated in 

 very general descriptive terms.) 



pH pH 



6.4 Profitable for three generations 7.4 Abandoned 



6.4 Very profitable 8.2-8.7 Has never paid expenses 



6.7 Profitable for twenty years 7.6 No profit yet 



6.6 High yield for fifty j'ears 7.6 Yield per acre less than half that 



in opposite column 



6.8-7.0 Average jield per acre 7.8 Average yield per acre 

 1940-1944, 3x 1940-1944, 2x 



i 



History of the Berlin Area 



Cranberr\' culture in Wisconsin began in the region north of Berlin during the 

 early 1860's and developed to a "boom" in 1872. This stimulated the cultiva- 

 tion of cranberries in the Wisconsin Valley where the crop is still important. 

 The history of the industry in the Berlin area has been told in detail.^ The facts 

 relevant to the present subject can be summarized briefly. From the peak of 

 30,000 barrels in 1872-74, production fell off rapidly for at least ten years until 

 (see Table 3) the crop was only 1,000 barrels. By the opening of the present 

 century only a few properties continued in cultivation. In 1916 there was only 

 one. 



♦"Cranberry picking occupied only two or three days last week." Courant. 



During the years of peak production, the only water used for flooding of cran- 

 berries was that from the marsh itself; that is, it was largely rain or melted snow 

 held in ditches or behind dikes. In 1873 a canal was dug bringing in water from 

 Willow Creek. This was followed in 1883 by another, several miles east, also 

 from Willow Creek. In 1885 a much larger one was dug from the Fox River. 



^Stevens, N. E., and Nash, Jean. The development of cranberry growing in Wisconsin. Wis. 

 Mag. of History 72:276-294. 1944. 



