218 Report of State Board of Horticulture. 



large; color, black, with heavy bloom. It has all the appearance of be- 

 ing of a good grape in earlier localities. 



Salem — Matures the last of September. Clusters, well shouldered. 

 Berry, medium to large; color, pale red, changing to a deeper red in the 

 sun. 



Worden — Clusters, large, well shouldered, moderately compact. Color, 

 black; berry, large, slightly acid; skin, thin; bloom, quite heavy. Ma- 

 tures September 20th. 



Wyoming — Produces quite small compact clusters; berries, medium; 

 color, red, very much resembling the Delaware, covered with a slight 

 bloom; flesh, firm, sweet, pulpy, a little foxy. 



Rogers Hybrid No. 9. — Matures September 20th. Clusters, medium to 

 large, sometimes shouldered; berry medium; color, dark red with a heavy 

 bloom; skin, thin; flesh, pulpy, sweet and altogether rich. 



Peerless — A red grape, resembling Black Hamburg in color and shape. 

 Matures September 18th; berries of medium sie; flavor not the best. 

 Has all the appearance of being a good grape if placed under better con- 

 ditions. 



THE SOUTHERN WILLAMETTE VALLEY.* 



In order to make the highest success of grape growing three essentials 

 are to be observed: first, selection of variety; second, selection of loca- 

 tion, and third, proper handling of the vines while growing and bearing. 



Sixteen years ago, when I moved out into the hills south of Eugene, 

 and told some of my farmer friends that I was going to devote one of 

 the choicest spots of my limited area to a vineyard, they tried to dis- 

 suade me, at the same time informing me that they had tried grape- 

 growing, and that on account of the cool summers, grapes would never 

 get sweet and only in exceptional seasons could any grapes fit for table 

 use be raised. 



The variety generally grown at that time all over the Willamette valley 

 was an Isabella seedling, with an occasional true Isabella, usually planted 

 in the poorest places on the farms and never pruned or cared for. My 

 first step, after preparing a warm sunny spot on the southeast side of a 

 hill, was to procure from a vineyardist in Napa valley, California, plants 

 of his best early grapes of the Vinifera or foreign type, and at the 

 same time secure from an extensive grape grower of Western New York 

 plants of his best American varieties. When the vines were three years 

 old not one of my neighbors was so astonished at the large beautiful 

 clusters of delicious grapes — red, white and blue — as myself, and when 

 put on the Eugene market nine out of ten purchasers supposed they were 

 getting California fruit. 



The proper way to plant a vineyard is to have the rows run north and 

 south, vines eight feet apart in the rows, and rows ten feet apart. 



It has been my contention that in certain respects Oregon is the best 

 grape country in America. In California the large foreign grapes, Chas- 



* D. W. Coolidge. 



