Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-01-11
ANNUAL SESSION.
Wisconsin Cranberry Growers Asso=
ciation.

The Wisconsin Cranberry Growers
met in annual session at the city hall in
this city Tuesday afternoon January 9th
The meeting was called to order by the
President w. S. Braddock. The follow
Ing persons We're in attendance from
outside the twin cities:
w. S. Braddock, H. B. Tuttle-and F.
J. Hoffman, of Mather; ]. H. Treat and
c. R. Treat, of Meadow Valley; z. T..
EIurd, of New Lisbon; A. c.. Bennett,
of Chicago; G. II. Stansburv. of Mil
waukee; G. H. Kruschke, Of Cranberry
| Center; Chas. J and r. A. Kruger. of
Dexterville; j. d. Potter of Pittsville; !;
c. S. Whittlesey, of Bearss Marsh; B..
S. Hoxie, of Evansville
The secretary read the minutes of the
August meeting. The President then
delivered bis annual address which we
publish in full, as follows:
PRESIDENTS ADDRESS.
On the 1st of August last, the Wiscon-
! sin cranberry growers had in sight what
promised to be the largest crop ever
| known in the history of the State. 1t
| was estimated at 10000 barrels and
under favorable conditions, would
doubtless have exceeded that limit
| despite the fact that severe and long
protracted drouth had partly bIighled
| and greatly retarded the growth of the
| fruit on SO manv of our marshes. But
disaster came before the month was
ended; a week of frosty nights found
US with meager water supply, and no
means to protect the berries. The re-
suit was that fully IS per cent. of the
crop was frozen beyond remedy and
the remaining portion so chilled as to
impair somewhat the keeping quality of
| the fruit OF course the general
| depression In business and the large
| prospective yield on the eastern bogs
| led us to expect a low range of prices
| But that this low price, coupled with a
| light demand should continue with SO
little improvement up to and beyond
| the holiday season was hardly antici-
| pated by any one. There is no question
that even with a shortage in Wisconsin,
there was greater quantity of berries
grown than is required. The supply
has exceeded the demand. Sull [ am
| firmly convinced that for all this our
small crop would lave been sold and
gone in the hands of consumers at
| fairly remuneratlve prices had it no,
been for the crowding of 50 many
| EARLY Blacks" onto the western
! market. They bad large yield of this
| variety on the Cape and somehow it
was settled that their best outlet was to
| tue Northwest. 10 my knowledge
over sixteen thousand barrels of Early
Blacks were handled by single firm i'll
| 4 1 L l. T. l.,
assert that over thirty thousand barrels
were distributed from that city before
the lst of November Our own state
| was flooded with them; they were
plentitully scattered through Minnesota
and the Dakotas. Iowa, Nebraska and
Kansas got their portion and some of
them even reached the Pacific coast
They have been sold at all prices from
| SIX dollars per barrel in the early par
Of the season down to two dollars or
less about Dec. 1st when they became
worthless.
Now as a matter of fact most of these
Early Blacks" were sold under false
pIetenses, mean so far as the frnit
was concerned, and certainly under a
misrepresentation on the part OF mos
of the buyers.
| Nearly all the small dealers (and l
speak from knowledge, for [ have
talked with many of them) thought
| they were buying cranberries, and that
| they were getting their winter supply
at very low figure. They did not
| know, and we could hardly expect the
| commission men to tell them that there
| is about the same difference between
| the early Blacks" and the Wisconsin
or the later varieties Of the Cape and
New Jersey berries, as there is between
| the Duchess appIe and the Rhode
Island Greening or the Baldwin. They
| know now; but unfortunately their
knowledge has been gained partly at
| our expense and greatly to our injury.
For these same dealers will be very
cautious in the future. When man
has been kicked by mule ii naturally
takes some little time for him to regain
| complete and perfect confidence in the
stability of things There is doubtless
room for limited quantity of ''Eariy
Blacks" and it Is all right and fair if
people know what they are buying;
but the indiscriminate sale Of such an
amount of them is harmful to all
growers east and west. The fewer
| raised the better for all parties.
The question of extending our foreign
trade was pretty thoroughly discussed
at the August convention when Messrs.
Rider and Small were present. Many
of our members joined the Fruit
Growers Trade Co., but is a matter OF
regret that there we've not more
signatures. A strong organization
| working to & we'll defined plan can
achieve results much more certainly
and more qnickly than individuals
| operating on independent lines. 1t
seems to me quite clear by this time
| that this work is necessary and essential
to the success of our industry. If Il
| large eastern crop can delay and I'M ure
the sale of less than one-third an
average crop OF Wisconsin berries hal
can we expect when, as is likely, there
shall be both III the east and west Il
| full crop the same season. There is
| hardly a single grower III the business
| who is hot trying either TO enlarge his
acreage or by some better or different
method Of culture to Increase the yield.
There is constant tendency 10 in
creased production, and although there
is from natural causes great variations
III the size of the crop from year to
year still statistics show that the
Iaverage crop, say for the last five Years
Il higher than Tor the preceding five.
We are raising more crauberries. To
offset this we must either lessen the
cost of production SO that we can sell
more and cheaper berries or increase
The demand by enlarging our market.
As a matter of fact | believe both these
things are necessary for we have passed
the day of high priced cranberries, and
the quicker we realize the fact and act