Cranberries

Cranberries

Cranberries were a significant agricultural product from different parts of Nova Scotia, including the Annapolis Valley and other locations served by the DAR. Here is an article from a cranberry industry magazine in 1955:

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From: Cranberries - The National Cranberry Magazine, September 1955, Vol 20, No. 5

Herbert Oyler, Largest Grower in Nova Scotia, Also Buys, Sells, Cans

Is Influential Figure In Canadian Industry—English-Born, Apples Brought Him Over—First in Dominion to Install Bog Sprinkler
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By Clarence J. Hall
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Largest grower in Nova Scotia, and also a canner of cranberry sauce, is Herbert Oyler of Kentville, with bogs in the Auburn-Aylesford area at Tusket and in Yarmouth County operating 60 acres in all.

The Oyler interests average about 1500 barrels [of cranberries] a year, although Mr. Oyler has grown larger crops. He buys fruit from other growers, both for resale as fresh fruit and for his processing plant. He has built most of his bogs, and is really vitally interested in the marketing end of the Nova Scotian cranberry crop. With his large individual holdings, his buying and selling of berries and his processing of the fruit, Mr. Oyler is definitely a major factor in the Canadian cranberry industry.

As well as being so interested in cranberries, his activities concern the growing and selling of potatoes, apples and other fruits and produce. He was primarily interested in the apple deal, and that was what originally got him into the cranberry picture, and into being a resident of Nova Scotia.

Family Noted In Apples

The growing of apples appears to be in the blood of the Oyler family, and his background in this fruit is most unusual and interesting. Mr. Oyler was born in England, where his father, George Oyler, had 3,000 acres or orchard, apples and other fruit.

His father was a member of the firm of Potter, Oyler, Ltd. in Kent, and Mr. Oyler still holds stock in this leading apple concern of England. His grandfather and great-grandfather were also apple men, making Mr. Oyler the fourth direct generation to be interested as a livelihood in apples and other fruits.

Herbert Oyler entered the business with his father as a young man, and his angle of the business then was the buying of fruit. This eventually brought him to Nova Scotia. He first bought for the English markect in Ontario, later Nova Scotia. He crossed the ocean yearly engaged in this pursuit. Then, he found he liked Nova Scotia and its people and thought it would be simpler to make his permanent home there. He did this as he continued to buy for the English market. He soon acquired orchards of his own in the Canadian Province and now has about 200 acres. He still goes to Europe frequently, and estimates he has made nearly 50 crossings to England.

About 25 years ago he extended his interests to include cranberries. As stated previously, he was the first in Canada to put a sprinkler on a cranberry bog. "I got tired of losing my crop, or part of my crop every year." he says. "So, I decided to do something about it." This is a rather frosty 16 acre piece the Taylor Bog set to Early Blacks on the flats of the Annapolis Valley.

Installed First Sprinkler

He asserts he finally thought overhead sprinkler irrigation might be the solution to his frost problem. He got in touch with the office of George N. Barrie, Brookline, Mass., a distributer for the Skinner System. Mr. Oyler and engineers of the firm worked out a permanent installation to fit the requirements of the property. This was in the earlier days of his cranberry growing. Since then he has had much better "luck" with this bog and some of his best crops have been produced there, with the frost problem licked.

With his position as a canner, and processing his own fruit from this and other bogs, he says that his net per acre from this particular bog has been very high. One year, in particular, he recalls he achieved a net which was "unbelievable.: He gave this reporter the figure and said it could be verified by his books, but did not wish it to be published.
He has produced 160 barrels to the acre on some pieces of his property. He is one of the few growers who have their own packing houses. This is necessary with the volume he handles annually in his fresh fruit business and for processing.

Mr. Oyler is one of the growing number of growers everywhere who believes in the use of honeybees. He says he would not be without them as an aid to "natural" pollination.

Alert to improvements in growing he was one of the first in Canada to purchase a mechanical picker, a Western. His experience, so far, however, has not been satisfactory with this method on the often times rather rough bogs of Nova Scotia. He feels there is too much pruning done and he loses too large a percentage of his crops through vine cutting. He handscoops, mainly, using the Cape Cod scoop and local labor.

Main Business Processing

About fifteen years ago he built his cannery at Auburn. When this is in full-swing he employes about 35 people. He packs on an average of 10,000-15,000 cases, all whole sauce, which he markets under the simple designation of "Oyler Brand." Mr. Oyler kindly gave me some of this sauce to try and it proved to be excellent. It is marketed in glass jars. His plant is on a sput of the Dominican [sic] Atlantic Railroad [sic], which runs from Halifax to Yarmouth.

Now, the really main business of Mr. Oyler is processing fruit, including cranberries (blueberries in tins for pies) apples and pickles although he still buys and sells in quantity for the fresh market. Mr. Oyler, himself, is a salesman and frequently goes "on the road" although he has brokers and distributers. "I can sell more than my men can." he says as a simple statement of fact and in meeting him there is no doubt that the salemanship is strong within him. He has sold "Oyler Brand" sauce as far west as Vancouver on the Pacific Coast, but has discontinued that because of increased freight rates and other factors. His markets now are mostly in the Maritimes and in Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba provinces.

Donald, son of Mr. Oyler is in the coal business in Kentville, but also in such market produce as potatoes. He, in conjunction with Mr. F. C. Walker, manager of Herbert Oyler's factory and cranberry bogs, owns possibly the finest equipped bog in the Maritimes, and probably in Canada. Run by thermostatic electric control his sprinkler system cuts in or cuts off at the desired bog temperature, so all frost and irrigation problems are a minor detail on the bog.

Gallery

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  page 1 of the magazine article.

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  page 2 of the magazine article.