Miscellaneous. 21=; 







GRAPES COMMERCIALLY NEGLECTED. 



T. V. Munson Discusses Cause and Remedy for Neglect of Grape Cui 

 ture — Value of the Fruit -of the Vine — Ban by Temperance People 

 a Mistake — Lack of Knowledge of Grape Culture. 



At the West Baden convention, T. V. Munson, Denison, Tex., an 

 acknowledged expert on grape growing, read a paper on "The Grape, 

 the Commercially Neglected Fruit, the Cause and Remedy." The first 

 part of his paper, read by his son, Will B. Munson, follows : 



"While vast orchards of peach and apple are very properly bein^ 

 planted in almost all parts of the country where such fruits thrive at all, 

 the grape is, with the exception of a few isolated regions, almost entirely 

 neglected for commercial planting, in all the great region east of the 

 Rocky Mountains, although there are varieties of grapes of fine com- 

 mercial qualities which succeed admirably in this region. In France, 

 Spain, Italy and other parts of Southern Europe, where the climate and 

 soil are no more favorable to grape culture than in this country, especially 

 all our southern and middle regions, grape culture leads in extent and 

 profitableness by far all other fruits. True, the free manufacture and 

 use of wines largely accounts for this, yet if we take into account only 

 table and raising grapes, they still outrank any other fruits in South 

 Europe. 



"The grape, by chemical analysis and practical test, far excels all 

 our other fruits in richness and healthfulness of food content; the vine 

 thrives more universally throughout the country, and is much the surest 

 and most prolific cropper, year by year, of any fruit we have, save the 

 blackberry and raspberry; the fruit remains on the vine in commercial 

 condition longer than any other of our fruits, save perhaps, late apples, 

 and carries to distant markets almost as well as apples, better than 

 peaches, as a rule ; it is loved by everybody, and can be eaten with most 

 beneficial effects several times a day by anyone, even those with weak 

 stomachs ; it is perhaps every w^ay the most refined and beautiful of fruits 

 $ud is of almost infinite variety, in color and flavor ; it can easily be con- 

 verted into staple commercial products, in ready demand at very profitable 

 prices, as fresh grape juice, concentrated must, jellies, raisin*s and wine, 

 all! of which are healthful and temperance begetting. 



But I did not intend a lecture on temperance, although I greatly 

 liove true temperance in all things. 



