PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANNUAL MEETING. 95 



preventives have been tried to prevent his depredations. Hunting the 

 worms at night with lanterns has been extensively practiced, and vast 

 numbers of them are destroyed in this way every spring. Sowing buck- 

 wheat in the vineyard has been found to prevent cutworms from harbor- 

 ing therein. Cultivating late in the fall is practiced by some with good 

 results. But the most efficient device to preserve the grape buds from 

 destruction by these pests are pieces of tin placed around the base of the 

 vine and also around the trellis posts. These tins are the best protection 

 for young grapes when starting a vineyard. A suitable quantity of these 

 tins has come to be a necessary part of a grape-grower's outfit. 



The grapevine flea-beetle, commonly called steel beetle, also works much 

 injury to the young buds. Hand picking seems to be the only remedy for 

 the full-grown beetle, and spraying with some insecticide the remedy for 

 the young of this insect. Vineyards near woodlands or neglected fence 

 rows or brush heaps are most liable to injury from the steel beetle. 



Eose bugs in some seasons need close attention. Hand picking each 

 day during the time the grapes are in blossom is the best remedy yet 

 known. 



Thorough cultivation of vineyards is uniformly practiced. This cultiva- 

 tion should commence in spring, as early as practicable. 



Pruning the vines is a most important part of a grape-grower's duties. 

 The proper time to prune is generally conceded to be any time after the 

 leaves drop in the fall and before they start in the spring. Considerable 

 difference of opinion exists in regard to the proper system of pruning, and 

 consequently no one system seems likely to be uniformly adopted. Prac- 

 tically, any system that does not leave too much wood will bring good 

 crops where other conditions are favorable. 



Grape-culture has gained such large proportions in some sections of the 

 United States and meets so much competition from other fruits grown in 

 the south and on the Pacific slope, that the marketing of the crop is the 

 most important question in connection with it. How shall we best place 

 our crops before the consumer is a subject that should receive more atten- 

 tion from fruitgrowers. 



Mr. C. D. Lawton: One can see many grapes in a ride about our town, 

 but we can and do grow other fruits. We used to grow the best of 

 peaches, and I believe we could do so yet. Severe winters and yellows 

 have reduced the orchards, and grapes have taken their place as being 

 more certain in yield; yet no one ever set a peach orchard here which put 

 him into debt, and no one ever will do so. Still, we are not sure of a crop 

 each year. At one time, in the early days of viticulture, we refrained from 

 setting grapes, fearing that the few hundred baskets we could then deliver 

 into Chicago would glut the market. Had the real facts been better 

 understood, some of us might have made fortunes long ago. The prices 

 have decreased each year, but grape-growing still remains profitable, and 

 planting of vineyards continues. We have cheap and quick transportation 

 by rail. Carloads of our fruit go to Texas, and Lawton grapes are found 

 so far away as Portland, Oregon. Our visitors, in their rides to-day, were 

 surprised at the varied methods of pruning and planting. At first the 



