PROCIOEDINGS OF TPIH SUMMKR MEETING 25 



fruit. The cultivation of llic viue is an indusLiy oi' liiyt importance in 

 many parts of our country; and in our markets every wliere, in tlie 

 season of ripening, the grape is one of tlie most noticeable articles of 

 sale, and upon our tables it has become a most common article of diet. 



While grapes are grown almost everywhere in the United States, 

 their production extensively, as a commodity for general market, has 

 been mainly developed in the last thirty or forty years. 



Grape culture, in this latitude, received its greatest accelerating im- 

 pulse on the discovery or the originating of a few varieties which proved 

 to be better adapted to general cultivation, to the conditions of soil and 

 climate over a wide extent of country, or that was especially adapted to 

 certain limited areas where they were produced of superior excellence 

 and with certainty. Of these kinds there are three that are universally 

 known and esteemed, namely, Concord, Delaware, Catawba. It is a 

 singular fact that these varieties, which are the foundation of grape- 

 growing as a market industry that has become so important m Michi- 

 gan, New York, and Ohio, still hold the place they originally assumed 

 at the head of the list — Concord and Delaware as the best market kinds 

 for general cultivation and Catawba for the special localities where it 

 holds unrivaled supremacy. 



In later years there has been an endless list of varieties of grape 

 originated, some of which have been lauded to the skies, heralded with 

 flourish of trumpets, and sent out at great cost to the purchaser. 

 By such extraordinary efforts some of these productions have been 

 extensively sold and planted and the originators have reaped considerable 

 profits therefrom; but still the plain old Concord holds its place 

 at the head of the list and is just as much a necessity as heretofore,, 

 as the basis for a vineyard, the most reliable grape for home and market 

 use. Concord and Delaware are the two kinds that anj^where in the 

 interior of our state insure success. The many new varieties come in 

 and go out. The originators and disseminators of them make money, 

 possibly, but those who buy them and plant them in quantity do not. 

 I wish it were otherwise. I wish we had a general-purpose grape that 

 was superior to Concord; that is, one that had a thicker skin, a more 

 tender pulp, was less likely to crack, was a better keeper, and withal 

 was equally prolific, equally hardy, and equally well adapted to such 

 various conditions of soil and climate. 



But it is nevertheless a fact that with all its faults, the Concord yet 

 stands without a peer, the foremost, hardy, productive, reliable grape 

 for market and home use that we possess. If one sets a vineyard, he 

 sticks to Concord, if he is wise. At Kelley island and along lake Erie 

 where the Catawba can be readily grown, that variety might take the 

 preference, but not elsewhere east of the Pacific coast. 



There are other black grapes of proved excellence for general culti- 

 vation that come before Concord in time of ripening, that are very 

 desirable and should not be ignored. The best known of these are 

 Worden and Moore's Early, given in their relative position in point 

 of preference, though the latter is the earlier in time of ripening. They 

 are good for the table, hardy and reliable, and begin the season earlier. 



The old, well-know'n Delaware is universally the favorite red grape. 



There are others that are fair to good, but none that possess all its 



merits, none to supersede it. Undoubtedly it is the best red grape in 



quality and the best for profit. Delaware vineyards here that are thirty 



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