
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.
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