BULLETIN NO. 206 



REPORT OF THE CRANBERRY STATION FOR 

 1919 AND 1920. 



BY H. J. FRANKLIN. 



The cranberry industry in southeastern Massachusetts, particularly 

 in Barnstable and Plymouth counties, is the most marked feature of the 

 agriculture of that region. It has given large value to some 14,000 acres 

 of peat and muck soils which previously had little or no value, having 

 made mosquito-breeding swamps into agriculturally productive land. It 

 gives seasonal employment to many hundreds of workers, and it adds 

 from two to three million dollars to the value of the agricultural products 

 of the section annually. The cranberry is the most important export 

 crop of the State. 



It is thus apparent that anything which injures the cranberry industry 

 affects not only the sections in which the berries are grown but also the 

 Commonwealth as a whole. Partial crop failures, whatever the cause, 

 result in severe loss, both to the bog owners and operators and to the 

 laborers who are accustomed to secure a part of their livelihood by work 

 on the bogs. Reduction of the crop lessens the ability of the community 

 to meet its taxes ; it also decreases the purchasing power of the section and 

 so affects other industries. It was to develop methods of avoiding such 

 partial crop failures that the State in 1910 established the Cranberry 

 Station of the Experiment Station. 



For ten years the Cranberry Station has been in operation. It has 

 given major attention to the study of the insects which injuriously affect 

 the cranberry crop. It has also investigated the problems of plant disease 

 control, bog fertilization, berry storage, frost protection, cranberry 

 varieties, and even the possibilities of the blueberry as a companion crop 

 to cranberries. In addition, the Cranberry Station has served as a center 

 for growers' meetings, and the services of the specialist in charge in an 

 advisory capacity have been widely sought by the growers. The follow- 

 ing report is the eighth of the Cranberry Station, and is a discussion of the 

 more important results of the work of 1919 and 1920. 



