THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 79 



"Season of 1900 8000 carloads 



" Season of 190 1 6669 carloads 



"Season of 1902 5062 carloads 



"Season of 190:; 2952 carloads 



" Season of 1904 7479 carloads 



" Season of 1905 5362 carloads 



"Season of 1906 5634 carloads' 



The seeming decrease in carloads shipped as the years progress is far more 

 than made up by the greater use of the fruit in local wineries and grape 

 juice factories. 



According to figures gathered in the preparation of this work about 

 90 per ct. of the grape acreage of the region is set to Concord followed by 

 3 per ct. of Niagara, 2 per ct. of Worden and i per ct. each for Moore 

 Early and Catawba with the remaining 3 per ct. made up of a dozen or 

 more sorts among which Delaware leads. 



The shipping season in this district begins early in September and lasts 

 well into November though late varieties, as Catawba, and small lots of 

 Concord are held some weeks longer. Improved storage facilities are 

 yearly lengthening the season. 



Several systems of pruning and training are in vogue in the district 

 but the majority of the vineyards are pruned and trained in a system 

 peculiar to Chautauqua County. The posts are from six to eight feet in 

 height, one to each three vines; two wires complete the trellis. The lower 

 wire is from 28 to 32 inches from the ground and the second from 22 to 36 

 inches above the first, the distance being changed as the vine comes to 

 maturity. The grapes are trained according to the upright system and 

 the vines are renewed to short horizontal arms and but few canes are taken 

 out each year; the trunk reaches only to the lower wire. The arms are 

 loosely tied to the lower wire and the canes and bearing shoots to the wire 

 above. Cultivation varies greatly but the best growers practice close 

 cultivation and make use of fertilizers; the cover crop is growing in favor. 

 Spraying is not very general as the region has been remarkably free from 

 pests. The chief insects now encountered are the grape-vine fidia,' the 



' The grape-vine fidia (Fidia viiicida Walsh) is a robust beetle, a quarter of an inch in length, 

 brown in color but whitened by a thick covering of yellowish-white hairs. The beetle lays its eggs 



