May, 1918 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
133 
The Cranberry Not a Waster 
On receipt of the following 
protest by the Secretary of the 
State Cranberry Growers Asso- 
ciation, an inquiry was sent to the 
U. S. Food Administration to 
learn if the cranberry had been 
placed under ban or in any way 
discriminated against. In a re- 
remarkably short time the follow- 
ing telegram was received : “Food 
Administration has taken no ac- 
tion whatever in regard to cran- 
berry ” 
From this the editor must con- 
clude, and he believes a majority 
of our readers will agree, that 
their protest is not well founded. 
It doubtless arose from a misun- 
derstanding. Sugar is required 
in cooking apples and yet the 
apple growers have not protested 
because the Food Administration 
has asked us to conserve sugar. 
The market gardeners of Osh- 
kosh and other places worked 
whole heartedlv all season in pro- 
moting the back yard garden 
movement knowing they were 
working against their own inter- 
ests, but none of them ever admit- 
ted it. 
The allowance of sugar in 
France at the present time is 
1 1/10 lbs. pr. month for each per- 
son, when it can be obtained at 
all. We consume over ten times 
that amount and surely we ought 
to be willing to help just a little 
to add to this pitiful 1 1/10 
pounds. 
“Through your columns I want 
to enter a protest against the con- 
certed action now being taken by 
Chief Hoover and the Food Con- 
servation Commission .against the 
Cranberry. This movement is be- 
ing disseminated throughout the 
land by the press, and is causing 
incalculable injury. 
The reason given is the high 
price of cranberries and the short- 
age of sugar. Cranberries are 
not high in comparison to other 
fruits and foods and sugar com- 
bined with them will give a bet- 
ter account of itself than any 
place I know of. These gentle- 
men are earnest and zealous in 
their efforts to conserve food, and 
are not wittingly guilty of crime 
in discriminating against the 
cranberry. It is the old time- 
deeplv-rooted notion that the 
cranberry requires more sugar 
than other fruits, and they have 
not taken the pains to find out 
beyond question, how unfair, un- 
just, and untrue this theory is. 
Why not drop the turkey and 
all its accessories? Why drop 
any of them? Turkey is said to be 
plentiful at 30 to 35 cents a pound. 
With two-thirds the price of one 
pound of turkey, two and one-half 
to three pounds of rich cranberry 
sauce can be made without one 
atom of waste. If the waste of 
the turkey is considered — and 
should be — a much larger amount 
of sauce could be made. Instead 
of conserving with beneficent re- 
sults, they are depriving human- 
ity of an economical, appetizing 
fruit food and will ruin the men 
engaged in its culture. I hope 
the members of the Wisconsin 
State Horticultural Society who 
were convinced by my demonstra- 
tion at the last December meeting, 
will have, and eat, cranberry 
sauce, not only on Thanksgiving 
Day but many, many, other days 
Mrs. S. N. Whittlesey. 
For cleaning fruit jars use steel 
wool numbers 0 and 00. Can be 
had at any paint store. Removes 
stains. 
Mr. A. B. Roberts of Embarrass 
was over to Grand Rapids recently 
to consult with the cranberry 
growers of this vicinity regarding 
the re-building of his cranberry 
bog. Mr. Roberts has one of the 
best locations in the state for the 
growing of cranberries, and ex- 
pects to put it in a first class, up 
to date condition. 
May Restrict Importation of 
Nursery Stock. 
The Secretary of Agriculture 
lias called a public hearing, to be 
held in Washington May 28, at 
which will be considered the advis- 
ability of restricting the impor- 
tation of nursery stock and other 
plants and seeds from all foreign 
countries. The restrictions are 
contemplated in order to prevent 
the introduction into the United 
States of any tree, plant or fruit 
diseases or of any injurious in- 
sects new to or not heretofoi e 
prevalent in this country. Many 
of the most important injurious 
insects and plant diseases have 
been introduced in this country 
through such importations. On 
the other hand there is a long list 
of similarly destructive insects 
and diseases which have not yet 
gained entrance. 
Schizanthus Wisetonenis or 
Butterfly Orchid is a most beau- 
tiful annual that does not seem 
to be widely grown by amateurs. 
The dainty flowers fairly cover 
the plants with bloom. There is 
a wide variety of shades and 
markings but all of them pretty. 
They soon flower from seed but 
do not hold in flower long. A 
succession may be had by sowing 
seeds at intervals of a couple of 
weeks during the spring months. 
