The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1915-08-31
Cranberry Growers Association.

Cranberry Growers Association.
: The 46th annual convention of the
: American Cranberry Growers Associa-
/ ton was held at the Inn, Browns Mills,
on Saturday. The attendance was not
: as large as on former occasions, there
! being but few over 100 present, that
) number including invited guests Presi-
dent Durell was in the chair. A. J.
Rider, secretary, was in his place, but he
was not able to do much work. His right
, arm was bound up, it having been bro
: ken few days before while Mr.. Rider
was cranking his automobile.
: John HI. Voorhees,, assistant secretary,
!; rendered his resignation of the Office and
; H. B. Scammell was elected.
: President Durell read his annual adj
dress, his subject being stability of
J cranberry culture-results. He said his
address of the previous year dwelt upon
the stability of the crop. When results
were looked at there were many. Gram
berry culture redeems and beauties re-
mote places that are wet, acid, decom-
posed, and not adapted to agricultural
pursuits. 1t adds to the assets of a local
ity, for the land and crop are looked
after by public officials who think they
see very large value, and put tax
upon the property which is often oppres
sive. 1t gives employment to labor,
without which there cannot be good re-
suits. Unique fruit, without an equal
as health product, is harvested; and
every community is furnished with a
commodity of great commercial value
Overprodpction and sharp practices on
the part 81 some dealers do great harm.
Conditions change from year to year,
arising from shortness of crop, quality |
OF berries, unaccountable whims of con-
sumers, and some items of minor i'm
portance. The cranberry trade is re-
munerative, as it does not lose its value |
while in existence, but it is not the place |
for get-rich-quick men or would-be mil
lioniares and the speaker said he could
not recall the name of single million
aire who had made his money exclusive
ly by growing cranberries.
"The cranberry girdler and it's CONTROL
was the subject of a paper read by H. K
Plank, from the Bureau of Entomology
OF the United States Department of
Agriculture. Mr.. Plank had many
specimens of the pest that has been
giving cranberry growers much trouble
In the fall of last year the department
with which he is connected had made a
special study of the girdler. 1t starts as
worm and finds it's home in trash
under the vines, very seldom getting
into the earth. 1t has been concluded
that refiowing or flooding was the best
means of getting rid of the girdler. This
should be done before the first of Octo-
Der, as near the middle of September as
the harvesting of the crops would allow.
Two bogs-one in Burlington county
and the other in Cape May county-had
been experimental on. The bog in this
county had shown excellent results. In
Cape May there had been difficulty in I
getting sufficient water to flood with and i
the girdlers were found to be quite num- i
erous. Water should be run on the boys J
not later than the first of October and be L
kept there for at least ten days. II
The secretary's report was the next ]
number on the programme and he start
ed with the statement that the season of
1914 was the most disastrous in cram Il
berry history. He thought there were
many faults to be corrected. The
selling methods could be improved upon
to advantage. He had been taught to
measure the cranberry crop with the
apple crop, and last year the latter was
decidedly the best. Mr. Rider said he
had been in the cranberry business for
46 years, and the season of 1914 was the {
first he had ever seen when he had not ]
been able to get good prices for his ber-
ries. Everything points to short crop
this year, and, in the opinion of the
present speaker, the crop would
be the shortest since 1908. Last year the
product of the entire country was $4,000 L
barrels less than the whole crop of Mass
achusetts alone. In concluding his adj
dress Mr. Rider called attention to the I
death of ]. Turner Brakley, member
of the association, and Joseph J. White
and A. j. Rider were appointed COM
mittee to draft suitable memorial.
A. U. Clancy, fruit sales agent
spoke on "How can sales company met
hods be improved to make them advan- I
tageous to growers" Mr.. CLANCY said {
his life as fruit sales man began when
he was 10 years of age. AT that time the
percentage of fruit that arrived from
California in good shape was very low,
sometimes only fifty per cent of the
shipment reaching its destination in
anything like the condition that it
should be in. Methods of shipment
we're carefully Istudied and the govern
ment lent material aid SO that at the
present time it is rare to find any very
great change in the fruit from the date
of its shipment to that of its arrival. A
salesman can do much to distribute fruit
but he cannot create demand. Sales
companies have oroadened the field of
distribution, but there is still niche to
be filed that the sales companies have
not been able to close. Something should
be done to get the people consuming
cranberries. Mr.. CLANCY suggested
advertising as means-of creating de-
mand for cranberry consumption. He
told how the orange industry of Cali
fornia started on this plan and how it
had brought forth good results. At first
the expenditure was moderate, now it I
runs into thousands of dollars Hell
showed page of popular magazine on
which there was the advertisement of
oranges and lemons and which cost
81, 900 for one issue. His idea was to
select neighborhoods where cranberries
are not sold extensively and work those
localities thoroughly. He did not advo-
cate the advertising scheme for this
year, but thought it should be given
consideration. The crop this year will
be small and that will help towards get
ting good prices.
The committee on legislation reported
that the state had appropriated $4,000
for investigation of matters connected
with cranberry growing and had also es-
tablished branch station in South Jer-
sey where especial attention would be
paid to cranberry culture. He thought