132 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
June, 1919 
CRANBERRY CULTURE 
Edited by Mrs. S. N. Whittlesey, Cranmoor, Secretary Wisconsin 
Cranberry Growers Association 
after which it will be up to the 
states and counties interested to 
protect the industry by means of 
proper sprays applied at the prop- 
er time.” 
Some interesting and not gener- 
ally known facts relative to the 
cranberry industry of southwest 
Washington are gathered from the 
annual report of E. E. Perry, hor- 
ticultural inspector for district 
No. 7 which comprises the coun- 
ties of Pacific, Grays Harbor, Ma- 
son, Thurston, and Lewis. The re- 
port says : 
‘‘The cranberry industry of the 
North Beach District, Pacific 
county, and a strip of land lying 
south of Aberdeen, Grays Harbor 
county, are rapidly developing in- 
to one of the leading horticultural 
interests of the northwest. 
‘‘We believe this wonderful 
horticultural product demands 
some special attention from the 
state department at this time. 
“The cranberries of Pacific 
county are located on the north 
beach peninsula, a strip of land in 
the extreme southwest part of the 
state of Washington, bounded on 
the east and north by Willipa Har- 
bor, on the south by the Columbia 
river and on the west by the Pa- 
cific ocean. 
“The topography of this penin- 
sula is a very interesting study. 
The underlying strata is composed 
wholly of clean sand and the 
greater part of the peninsula is a 
series of low ridges. It is between 
these ridges that the cranberry 
marshes are found, high enough 
above sea level that they are not 
overflowed by salt water at high 
tide. The soil is composed of de- 
cayed vegetable matter, the accu- 
mulation of ages of the rank 
growth of ferns, grasses, mosses 
and flags. The cranberry is a na- 
tive of this district. When the 
first white men visited the penin- 
sula, the Indians were gathering 
the berries. The district inspector 
has been informed that it was 
1909 or 1910 that the first bogs 
were planted with cuttings sent 
from the east. The development 
of the industry has been quite rap- 
id, and the yields from the bogs 
now in bearing are very satisfac- 
tory. The experimental stage is 
now passed. The industry has 
now reached the commercial stage. 
The crop for the district in 1917 
was about 3,500 barrels and in 
1918 about 15,000 barrels. One 
grower from a little less than one 
acre harvested about 206 barrels. 
There is a series of bogs of great 
acreage located on the peninsula 
near Willipa Harbor, in Grays 
Harbor county, south of Aber- 
deen. These bogs have just begun 
to be developed. This locality has 
about the same topography as in 
Pacific county and the soil and 
climatic conditions are of the same 
character. 
“This last season the crops in 
Grays Harbor county were very 
satisfactory, several hundred bar- 
rels being harvested from a small 
acreage. Some 250 acres will be 
ready for development this next 
season. The cranberry bogs of 
western Washington will of course 
require control measures to pro- 
tect them from destructive insect 
pests and fungous diseases. These 
problems are now being worked 
out by special experts from the 
United States Department of Ag- 
riculture, so far with fine results, 
Probably there is no Avav of pre- 
venting the formation of smim 
which is universally found on 
cranberry vines in the spring. It 
is a growth or accumulation that 
comes from long submersion in 
the more or less stagnant water of 
the winter flooding. The longer 
the vines are kept under, the 
greater the amount of scum, and 
the more difficult to remove. In- 
stead of holding the winter flood 
till late in May as was the general 
custom years ago, many successful 
Wisconsin growers now let the 
water down, exposing the vines in 
March or early April. The vines 
then have the benefit of spring 
rains which wash off and remove 
this scum before it has become so 
thick and tenacious, leaving the 
vines in a clean and healthy con- 
dition, and before there is any 
start of new life or growth. Early 
in May bogs are reflooded and 
kept under a week or ten days, 
from the ponds or reservoirs 
which have also been freshened 
and improved by the rains of early 
spring. 
An excellent treatise on cur- 
rants and gooseberries has been is- 
sued by the U. S. Department of 
Agriculture. It appears about 
three months too late to be of the 
highest value this year but it is 
well worth reading and preserv- 
ing. Ask for Farmers’ Bulletin 
1024, Currants and Gooseberries. 
A postal card request will bring a 
copy. 
