448 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



in all, the same season 600 tons or 1,200,000 pounds; from Dover, Cuya- 

 hoga county, 900 tons of table grapes or 1,800,000 pounds; from Notting- 

 ham, 106 tons or 212,000 pounds. There were also shipped from Vermil- 

 lion, Erie county, 95 tons, mostly for wine, and from Ceylon station, Erie 

 county, 55 tons for wine and about 25 tons of table grapes, while the Lake 

 Erie islands furnished 4,564 tons for table grapes, and the balance of their 

 product (1,140 tons) for wine. 



As an item of interest it may be mentioned that in this district there is 

 a monster wine cask containing 36,000 gallons, one of the largest in the 

 world. This cask is made of Ohio oak, and is of the finest cooperage. 

 The winery where this cask was shown has a capacity of 850,000 gallons. 

 There are a number of large cellars on the islands and peninsula, at Kel- 

 ley's island, Middle Bass, Marblehead, Toledo, and Sandusky. A small 

 amount of champagne is made in this locality. 



In the states of Illinois and Indiana, with 4,740 and 4,850 acres, respect- 

 ively, and in counties of Ohio not before mentioned, with 22,815 acres, 

 viticulture has hardly held its own during the last decade. Fungoid dis- 

 eases have found the vines an easy prey in these states, and the vineyards 

 in many localities have been practically abandoned. There are some vine- 

 yards in the Mississippi valley and in favored localities where both wine 

 and table grapes are grown for local markets. As growers become familiar 

 with the use of spraying apparatus and fungicides their hopes and inter- 

 ests are being renewed, and brighter days seem to be dawning in this 

 direction. 



Western Division. — This division, consisting of Missouri and Kansas, 

 has made but little progress during the past ten years. The vineyards in 

 Missouri, except in a few localities, have been devastated or ruined. Mr. 

 Herman Jaegers, government experimental agent for the state of Mis- 

 souri, says: " In Newton county there are but 20 acres left, but this does not 

 apply to grapes grown in gardens on most farms. From 1866 to 1875 

 there were several hundred acres of vineyards in Newtcn and adjoining 

 counties. Most of these were grubbed up and abandoned, owing to the 

 prevalence of black rot. Now that we are certain that we can prevent 

 black rot and mildew with spraying, replanting has commenced, and will 

 probably become general in a year or two more. As far as I know, the sit- 

 uation is similar to this all over southwestern Missouri." 



For the purposes of this investigation Hermann, in Gasconade county, 

 Missouri, was visited, but no devastation was seen in the vineyards. One 

 of the largest and best vineyards in the state is located here, and contains 

 80 acres, apparently nearly all wine grapes. 



Mr. Miessner, of Bushburg, Jefferson county, Missouri, a well-known 

 and reliable authority, reports to this office that the ravages of the black 

 rot did not become ruinous until 1875, when the disease developed over a 

 large portion of the southern half of the state and resulted in the greatest 

 damage to the grape crop of that section. Since that year black rot has 

 been of annual recurrence, marked by more or less disastrous consequences 

 to the grape crop. In some years the loss would be no less than half the 

 crop, or even more, while in other seasons it would be but a small percent- 

 age, confined chiefly to varieties most subject to the disease. Mr. Miess- 

 ner further says: "The growth of viticulture in many sections of our 

 state has received a check. A large number of the vineyards have been 

 abandoned. The planting of new vineyards has been reduced in some 

 localities. Spraying the vines, as recommended by the Department of 



