The History of the Lowbush Blueberry Industry in Nova Scotia, 1950 - 1990

Pictures

• An old "run out" field or pasture starting to grow small spruce. A typical blueberry field.
  
• Leveling and rock removal with an excavator to allow for mechinical pruning and harvesting.
  
• Early leveling experiments using a "rome" disc and vibrating roller.
  
• "Friday" straw spreading machine
  
• Woolery Burner used for many years to prune lowbush blueberry fields.
  
• Home-build liquid propane gas burner, used as an inexpensive alternative to the Woolery Oil Burner for pruning small acreages.
  
• Flail Mowers began to be used as an alternative to burning when oil prices increased rapidly in the late 1970's.
  
• Endel Karmo, Provincial Apiarist. (1950-1977)
  
• Hives of honey bees on a trailer could be easily moved from field to field for increased efficiency.
  
• Single hives of honey bees set out in a blueberry field to provide a supplementary pollinating force.
  
• Typical raking scenes in the 1950's, #one and #two.
  
• Typical raking crew scenes in the 1950's, #one and #two.
  
• Early hand blueberry rake.
  
• A pail of "raked" berries being field weighed.
  
• First commercially produced lowbush blueberry mechanical harvester. Produced by Chisholm Ryder in 1969.
  
• Double Headed Mechanical Lowbush Blueberry Harvester, developed and manufactured by Doug Bragg Enterprises, Collingwood, N.S.
  
• Berries being "field cleaned" using an enclosed fan winnowing machine.
  
• Blueberries being air cleaned at Receiving Station.
  
• A typical Blueberry Receiving Shed in the 1950's. Cobequid Mountain Blueberries, operated by Chelsey Walsh & Son, Collingwood, Nova Scotia.
  
• Inspection and Grading of 30 lb. cartons of lowbush blueberries by Agriculture Canada Inspector.
  
• Trans Canada Highway sign near Oxford, Nova Scotia.
  
• Promoting Nova Scotia Wild Blueberries on World Markets. Anuga Trade Fair, Cologne. 1981 L. to R: Rainer Will (Georg Boden & Co., Hamburg), Gordon Kinsman & Peter Rideout (NSDAM).
  
• Walter Burns, Agriculture Canada and David Dickinson at an A.R.D.A. conference on the Blueberry Industry held in Truro in 1967.
  
• Roy Hoeg, Chelsey Walsh, Sr., and John Bragg at an A.R.D.A. conference on the Blueberry Industry held in Truro in 1967.
  
• Display at "The Blueberry Patch", an information booth established at the N.S. and N.B. border by the Blueberry Producers Association of Nova Scotia in 1984.
  
• Shipment of 1000th Blueberry container from Nova Scotia.
  
• Blueberry Harvest Festival Queen, 1984, visiting processing facilities of Oxford Frozen Foods.
  
• A range of blueberry products.
  
• Chris Gaklis, one of the first processors and exporters of Nova Scotia blueberries.
  
• Oxford Frozen Foods processing plant built in 1968.
  
• Field Station of the Nova Scotia Blueberry Institute, Debert, Nova Scotia.
  
• Participants in the opening ceremonies of the Nova Scotia Blueberry Institute, 1983. L to R: Hon. Roger Bacon, N.S. Minister of Agriculture; Dave Sangster, Director of Horticulture and Biology, N.S.D.A.M.; Carvell Stonehouse, President of the Blueberry Producers Association of Nova Scotia; Ernie Lunn, Manager of the Debert Industrial Park; Charlie Embree, former Director of Horticulture and Biology, N.S.D.A.M.
  
• Blueberry select clones in field trials.
  

main page