Appendix. 205 



practices, for becoming familiar with the worli of the experiment stations, 

 for the best preparation of the fruit when grown and for a proper under- 

 standing of the markets, all of which are indispensable. 



At the close of his paper, Mr. Smith read an article which recently ap- 

 peared in the Oregonian, which shows the high repute of Oregon apples 

 in New York City. 



GRAPE CULTURE. 



By Hon. John F. Bkoetje. 



GllAPE CULTURE SUCCESSFUL. 



VINEYARDS, PROPERLY MANAGED, WILL YIELD FROM 11,250 TO 

 22,500 POUNDS TO THE ACRE— HOW TO PLANT VINES. 



It seems at all times, from antiquity to the present, the grape has been 

 one of the favorite fruits of most everybody, and much care has been 

 bestowed on its cultivation. We need not be surprised when we le^rn 

 that emigrants to new countries took grape vines along with them in 

 their new homes. The first settlers who came to the present United States 

 to make their new homes found the grapevine growing wild in the woods 

 everywhere, but the berries were small and sour. However, they were 

 used to some extent. Plants of the European grapevine were brought over 

 to this country and tried, but would not succeed. Larger plantations of 

 the European grapes were made at the first part of the last century, 

 but with no success. Birds carried some seeds of the same into the 

 woods, some of which grew up and hybridized with some of our native 

 kinds, which were greatly improved. Our much esteemed Delaware grape, 

 which was originally found in the woods of New Jersey, is believed to 

 have originated in this way. 



About the time of 1825 to 1830, a number of Swiss, together with others, 

 made extensive trials with grapes on the south border and on some isl- 

 ands of Lake Erie. They treated the vines the same way they did in 

 Germany and Switzerland. The European kinds failed entirely. 



They then took some of the wild grapes of the woods and planted the 

 same and cultivated them the same as in the old country. 



The fruit improved greatly, and from seedlings many new kinds were 

 produced, one of which is the Isabella. But soon they found out that 

 the close planting, four feet by four, and short pruning, to two buds, did 

 not agree with our native kinds; so, gradually, they gave the vine much 

 more room, and in pruning they left the bearing canes much longer, and 

 so they came gradually to the renewing system, which is in practice every 

 where east of the Rocky Mountains. Later on, trials were made by a 

 great many others, all over the country. The -result was astonishing. 

 Prom seeds many new kinds were produced, such as the Catawba, Zona,. 



