342 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



market. This is cultivating a taste for a higher standard as to quality. 

 Too many grapes, unripe and poor in quality, placed on the market in the 

 beginning of the season, hurts the sale of better fruit. Dealers should 

 refuse to handle such fruit. Very few people will eat sour grapes while 

 almost every one is fond of ripe sweet ones. 



Dr. Turner: There is more profit in grapes at two cents per pound 

 than in wheat at one dollar per bushel. 



M. T. Smith: For the past ten years my grapes have netted me four 

 cents per pound on an average. The lowest amount received for one acre 

 during the past ten years was one hundred dollars, and the highest amount 

 four hundred dollars. I set my vines ten feet each way and train on 

 stakes. This method allows of cultivation both ways. I can pass 

 through the vineyard in any direction, which can not be done when the 

 vines are trained on trellises. By my method it costs no more to cultivate 

 an acre of grapes than it does to tend an acre of corn. 



In answer to the question, " What did grapes sell for in the market last 

 year?" A. C. Newman said: I sold my grapes last year for six cents per 

 pound. Sold some for seven cents per pound. A. J. Warner sold his 

 Concords last year in Allegan for five cents. 



M. T. Smith: The vines should be cut back and properly pruned for 

 the next year's crop in the fall or early winter. Then no further pruning 

 will be necessary until the fruit is set for the crop. This obviates the 

 necessity for pruning in the spring at time of bleeding. 



A. C. Newman pruned when the sap flowed freely and at other times. 

 Could see no difference in fruit or vine. 



A. J. Bracelin: What per cent, of the men who set vineyards make a 

 success? 



A. J. Warner: Perhaps ten per cent, of the men planting vineyards 

 make a success. While a few others have been moderately successful, a 

 large per cent, make a failure of the business. 



M. T. Smith: Some men can grow grapes but have no faculty for sell- 

 ing. In the hands of the right men grapes are a paying crop. 



G. H. LaFleur: I think the answer given to Mr. Bracelin's question 

 indicates that about one in ten succeeds, while nine fail. So if you are 

 the tenth man you need have but little fear from the other nine. 



A. C. Newman: I have recently talked with two commission men from 

 Minneapolis who said: "Send all the good, ripe grapes you have to that 

 city. The people of the northwest want such fruit and will pay fair 

 prices." Good fruit reaching Minneapolis always sells for good prices. 

 The most of the losses and low prices come from placing unripe, badly 

 packed, or too much low-grade fruit on the market. Such fruit scarcely 

 pays for packing, freight, and commission. 



Mr. Newman had found by pruning that he could get the same number 

 of pounds in a less number of clusters; more compact and uniform in 

 size. Such grapes brought the highest price in market. Allowing three 

 tons to the acre at three cents per pound, grapes paid better than farm 

 crops. 



J. [M. Granger had sprayed his apple orchard for three years. Less 

 apples dropped off and a much larger per cent, was perfect as the result. 



A. J. Bracelin: I think the time is near at hand when all orchards 

 will be sprayed if we expect to escape the codlin moth. 



