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Smith, was later run by the H. A. Johnston Co. of Boston. In 1921 about fifty tons of the fruit were processed. After the berries were steamed and sweetened, glucose was added, and the mixture was packed in kegs for shipment to bakeries in the United States. This “pie-stock” was free of the duties charged on unprocessed blueberries. The picking was done entirely by hand, and the berries were brought in by the ton in baskets, buckets, barrels and tubs to be sold for .1c per pound. According to one source, some harvesters began mixing sand with their berries to increase the weight. Thoroughly annoyed over this behavior, the processor closed the Mount Stewart plant and moved the operation to the state of Maine. In spite of this setback, the industry continued to flourish and, as late as October 7, 1952, at a meeting in the Legion Hall at Mount Stewart, the Hon. Eugene Cullen, Minister of Industry and Natural Resources, expressed the belief thatit could'develop into a multi-million dollar business in this Province. The Prince Edward Island Blueberry Growers Association was formed at Mount Stewart on August 5, 1970. At that time, Mr. Arthur Doyle, who has been associated with the industry for many years, indicated that the chief obstacle in the path of realizing Mr. Cullen’s projection is the availability of markets.

The Great Depression of the thirties laid a heavy hand on Island farmers. While, by 1937, prices of machinery and other manufactured goods were rapidly climbing to normal standards, returns for agricultural products had reached only 50% of those for 1926. Many farms carried heavy mortgages, while less than 1% of the farm houses had running water. For many the only prospect seemed to be hard work and more hard work with very little compensation, and the result was the aban- donment of many farms. During the period between 1936 and 1958, 1565 acres in Lot 37 changed from agricultural producing land to natural forest or shrub. The deserted homestead became an all too familiar feature of the Island landscape.

Nor did the return of relative prosperity bring back the farmers. A basic feature of late twentieth century agriculture is the trend towards fewer and bigger farms. As investment in tractors and combines is in- creased, so also must a farmer’s land holdings be increased in order that he may get full utilization out of the machinery. Some of the large-scale farmers continue to grow the traditional crops; others have taken up activities which are new to the Island. A case in point is tobacco grow- ing which was introduced to the Island around 1960 and has been expand- ing rapidly ever since. The most ideal growing area stretches between Glen William and Mount Stewart, and such growers as George Morse of Head of Hillsborough and Elmer Vanderaa of Fanningbrook are produc- ing most acceptable plants.

Although the recent loss of its processing plant may have affected this position somewhat, Mount Stewart has always been the strawberry capital of the Marit-imes. For a long time the first berries of the season were regularly sold by the late Robert Jay (Bobbie Ben) ; however, credit for the plant’s introduction into the area must go to Hector MacCannell. Early in the century, Mr. MacCannell bought 100 plants from his em- ployer of the time, Mr. Franklin Bovyer, the father-in-law of the late Hon. J. Walter Jones. Only one plant among these was the superior f‘Senator Dunlap” variety, and, for many years, all the strawberry plants 1n the Mount Stewart area were its descendants.

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