PROCEEDINGS OF KINDRED SOCIETIES. 



265 



In the spring of '85 I planted one thousand Concord vines with a view 

 of seeing how cheap I could grow grapes. The location was high and 

 free from frosts, but not steep enough to wash; soil a strong gravelly loam, 

 which would produce twenty-five bushels of wheat or one hundred bushels 

 of corn to the acre. A clover sod was turned under and fitted as for corn, 

 marking 4x4 feet, and one-year vines set at every alternate mark, making 

 them eight feet each way. Two weeks later corn was planted except at 

 the marks where vines had been set. The field was kept thoroughly culti- 

 vated and hoed the rest of the season, and the corn gathered more than 

 paid for the cultivation. The second spring the vines were staked and 

 corn again planted. In hoeing, the two strongest shoots were tied to the 

 stakes and all others rubbed off. This left the vine in good condition to 

 bear the second season, but for some reason the crop was very light and 

 the receipts for grapes were less than what the corn crop had been the 

 preTious year. The fourth spring, posts and wires were set, the bottom 

 wire 2^ feet and the toj) five feet high. In the strongest vines four canes 

 were left in pruning, two for the bottom and two for the top wire, but 

 many of the vines were so small that only the two bottom canes could be 

 left. The crop this season was good, averaging twelve pounds per vine. 

 We picked and shipped about one third of the vineyard, and the balance 

 sold on the vines at twelve cents per basket (about eight pounds). The 

 west side bore the heaviest crop, where the soil was the lightest. In order 

 to equalize matters I sowed four hundred pounds bone meal on this side 

 the following spring. The fifth year (1889) the crop was again light, only 

 4^ pounds per vine, but the vine made a tremendous growth. Last spring 

 we cut back to four canes, except where the vine had made an extra rank 

 growth, when six canes were left. I do not know of a vineyard in the 

 county that was cut back closer, but the crop was all the vines could 

 carry. The average was over twenty-three pounds per vine. This year the 

 east part bore the heaviest crop, averaging fully three baskets to the vine, 

 while the yield on the west side, notwithstanding its previous dressing of 

 bone, was noticeably lighter. 



Until this year we have always picked in holders, drawn the grapes to 

 the packing house and packed the following day. This gave them time to 

 wilt and a good packer could easily make her baskets weigh 10 lbs. This 

 year local buyers came in and a basket was a basket with them, provided 

 the grapes were good and baskets packed full. If very lightly packed 

 they would shade the price a trifle. Considering this, we determined to 

 pack direct from the vines, and were well satisfied with the result. By 

 close figuring we could bring the cost of picking, packing, and delivering 

 34 



