80 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



Parker Earle, and carried, that the report of absent members be not 

 read on account of scarcity of time, but that they appear in proper 

 place in the published transactions. 



GRAPES AND GEAPE CULTURE. 



BY E. C. HATHAAVAY. 



Mr. President (OkJ Members of tlie Illinois State Hortiridtural 

 Soeietij : 



Having been requested to report on Grapes and Grape Culture 

 in my district, I shall do so, but briefly: 



The excessive cold of last winter vras very destructive to vine- 

 yards in the northern part of the State, so much so that vines of the 

 more tender sorts were generally killed to the ground, even where 

 they were quite well protected. Concords suffered severely, many of 

 the vines of which were killed, and in some instances were so badly 

 used up they never started again from the roots, which they usually 

 do when the top is injured. This condition of things, of course, 

 clouded the hopes of vineyardists who were looking expectantly to 

 the coming season for a profitable crop to partially repay the almost 

 complete loss, by rot, of the crop of the previous year. Among the 

 Concords that had received no protection, a portion of the buds 

 swelled under the influence of the warm days of the coming Spring, 

 but as the promise was about to develope into the first steps toward 

 fruition " there comes a frost, a biting frost, which nips its shoot 

 and then it falls," and with it goes down the hopes of the growers 

 of a large part of the Northwest for a good crop. 



May and June, in 1883, will long be remembered as the hlach 

 months by the fruit growers of the northern part of this State, as 

 well as many other states in the same latitude. These unusual frosts 

 were not only intensely severe upon grapes, but nearly all other 

 fruits suffered as well. In protected situations some vines escaped 

 the frost, and such produced fine fruit, which brought large prices in 

 market. 



No rot appeared the past season, neither were insects as plen- 

 tiful as usual; this last condition of things I attribute to the pre- 

 vailing low temperature of the season as well as the unusual amount 

 of moisture, either falling as rain or held suspended in the atmos- 

 phere. 



As yet I have no disposition to exchange the comparatively old- 

 er varieties, which have proved successful in the past, for those of 

 more recent introduction. Many of the newer ones have qualities 

 to strongly recommend them, but, it must be rememl^ered, the grape 

 is quite as capricious as other fruits, therefore it is wise to "go slow" 

 and feel our way by testing carefully a few of each, and adopting 

 those which prove themselves, in all respects, a little better than any 



