258 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



I think it is a grape for the south rather than the north as it mildews and 

 does not do well. 



On opening the Wednesday morning session, the president announced 

 as committee on resolutions, E. C. Reid, R. Morrill, H Chatfield. 



W. Phillips, delegate to Chicago Columbian Horticultural meeting, 

 made report of the proceedings at that meeting. 



W. A. Smith of Benton Harbor presented the following paper on 



GRAPE-GROWING IN MICHIGAN. 



In selecting a location for the grape, preference should always be given 

 the higher ground. Not unfrequently an additional altitude of three or 

 four feet will save the fruit from a killing frost. This rule should apply 

 equally to all tender fruit. This, in connection with air drainage, is the 

 first and most important condition of successful fruit culture. 



I apprehend that grape-culture in Michigan is very similar to the same 

 occupation elsewhere, when the soil and climatic conditions are similar to 

 ours, whether in the east or west. The peculiarity of the grape is that it 

 is not confined to any particular locality,.soil, or climate. There are few of 

 our cultivated fruits that will bear such wide dissemination as the grape. 

 In the culture of this fruit, the next consideration after selecting the high 

 ground is the drainage of the soil. If nature has not provided ample 

 means for carrying ofp the surplus water, tile drainage must be resorted 

 to. The grape will not fruit nor live on wet soil. Any ordinary soil, 

 whether sand, sand loam, clay loam, or hard clay, may be successfully 

 employed for this purpose. The hard, compact clay is the most difficult 

 to culivate and manage, but under good management will, I think, yield 

 large crops and better fruit than any other soil. In the time of maturing 

 I find my hard clay ripens the fruit a few days sooner than the sand. A 

 preference of soil should, I think, be more with reference to certain varie- 

 ties of grape. A slow, tardy grower requires a good strong soil to support 

 it, while a strong, rampant grower will succeed well in a lighter soil. 

 Grapes like the Delaware must have a good soil, high culture, and plant 

 food, to yield bountiful crops, while such as the old Catawba, Concord, 

 Worden, Diana, Niagara, and others of that class will do well in a lighter 

 soil. I think the Diana will give better satisfaction in a light sandy soil, 

 than any other. Ordinarily it produces too much wood. While a com- 

 pact clay soil will j)roduce equally as well, if not better, both in quality 

 and quantity, as other soils, it is not always the most desirable, being 

 much more difficult to manage and cultivate. If worked too wet it bakes; 

 if stirred too dry it breaks up into clods. Moreover, it requires more 

 frequent tillage than the lighter soils. 



In preparing a worn soil for grapes or other fruits, a good crop of red 

 clover plowed under when in full bloom would pay well in after 

 years. The proper arrangement of the vineyard must in great part 

 depend upon the lay or location of the ground. Whether the 

 points of the compass have any bearing upon the fruitfulness 

 of the vine or not, it is better to consider other conditions. As 

 the land must of necessity be cultivated one way, after the trellis 

 is up, I would prefer to have the rows run with the inclination of 

 the ground. When the inclination is not too great and the soil hard clay 

 or tenacious, this will afford better surface drainage than locating the rows 

 at right angles with the inclination. The distance between the rows 



