Content area
Full text
Fruit groudng isn t easy in this northern state, but growers have made a respectable showing.
SEVERE winters have restricted Wisconsin's commercial fruit production to cranberdes, apes, tart cherries, raspberries, and strawberries, plus limited plantings of grapes and pears for local markets. Despite threats from fire, frost, and drought, Wisconsin growers lead the U.S. in cranberry production. And for more than a century, the Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association has fostered the growth of this industry, which today boasts several fourth- and fifth-generation marshes. At first, finding suitable fruit varieties fell to early commercial growers who tested many varieties, including hardy Russian apples, often at great personal expense.
The first experimental trial stations and demonstration orchards took over in 1890, under the direction of the Wisconsin Horticultural Society and the Wisconsin Experiment Station in Madison. Here's a quick look at how the state's fruit industry has developed.
1900- improved cranberry marshes are established, planted with clonal selections from Wisconsin and other regions.
1902 - Wisconsin fruit growers and horticulturists...