WINTER MEETING. 217 



More valuable than this year's gain in apples, I consider the fact that the 

 sprayed trees kept their foliage sound till winter, made no attempt at second 

 growth, and promise a tair crop in 1894. 



Herman Jaeger. 

 Neosho Mo., Nov. 22, 1S93. 



» 



DISCUSSION. 



J. C. Evans — There is a great deal of information in that paper. 

 We are very much indebted to Mr. Jaeger for much that we know of 

 the grape. 



Mr. Kaiser — I buried some grape-vines and let them stay a little 

 late. On the 2l8t of June a tornado whipped the foliage off so badly 

 that they never recovered. Some of my neighbors said that the wire 

 trellis was the cause of the damage. Did the wire do any harm ? ( By 

 the Secretary, No.) 



GRAPES AND GRAPE-GROWING. 



BY LORENZ GEIGER. 



Your Secretary wants me to write on this topic, and complying with his wish, 

 I respectfully submit this paper for perusal to those interested in grape-growing, 

 either for instruction, consideration or discussion. 



Grapes and grape-vines have a history as old as the human race itself. Grapes 

 as food, and its products as drink, were ever considered important factors for the 

 healthy development of the human body, as it is by our refined and highly civilized 

 race of today. And in the form as high wine, used by artists and scientists, won- 

 derful and useful things were produced by Its agency. 



Grapes and grape-vines were found by the Norse, when they landed in early 

 days on the eastern shore of the Western continent, long before Christopher 

 Columbus and his party set their feet on the Bahamas. 



Grape-vines were brought along by the early immigrants from their native 

 homes in Europe, and were planted in the virgin soil of their new homes. But 

 they failed to grow and to produce fruit. What else were they to do if they 

 wanted grapes, but to resort to those which grew so profusely and luxuriously in 

 the woods surrounding their new homes, and domesticate them, propagate and 

 improve them. And thanks to the indefatigable exertions of vitlculturists of old, 

 and more so to those of our own time, we have now varieties to select from as 

 good as have been cultivated for thousands of years in the grape districts of the 

 old world to suit our fancy. 



It has been the belief of old that grapes will grow and succeed best on the 

 sunny hillsides only bordering on flowing streams or large bodies of water; but 

 since it has been practiced on hills and uplands remote from water-courses, equally 

 good results were obtained, if conditions were equally good and favorable. My 

 object in writing this article is to interest you in grapes, but I am not willing to 

 enter upon the topic, "How to grow and care for a vineyard," as that is so well 

 said and plainly illustrated in the "American Grape-Growing and Wine-making," 

 a book so well written by Prof. G. Buseman, now of California, which should be 

 in the hands of every one interested in grapes, and to call more particularly your 

 attention to choice and selection of varieties to plant. 



