428 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



THE GRAPE. 



J. O. SHARE, ALBERT LEA. 

 (So. Minn. Hort. Society.) 



It seems that the grape has been a favored fruit in all ages of 

 the world's history. In the Bible it is mentioned quite frequently, 

 which indicates that the grape also in those days was cultivated 

 to a great extent, and I imagine that some of those countries men- 

 tioned in the Bible produced a great abundance of beautiful and de- 

 licious grapes, such as we of a cold climate have no comprehension 

 of. 



The first account that we have of the grape in America probably 

 dates back about five centuries previous to the discovery of America 

 by Columbus, when the Northmen, a people from Norway, colonized 

 Iceland and Greenland and made explorations in America as far 

 south as New England. The short time they stayed in the latter 

 country they found an abundance of delicious grapes, and they took a 

 lot of these grapes and pressed the juice out of them and drank it 

 and pronounced it better than any wine they ever drank. And in- 

 deed the wine that they drank, unfermented grape juice, is the best 

 at any time ; it is refreshing and healthy and will not turn one's brain 

 upside down. 



When these Northmen came back to their mother country they 

 told of the new country they had discovered, the beautiful and de- 

 licious grapes they had found and the palatable and refreshing wine 

 they had made ; and they named the land the " Wineland." But 

 these men, of whom Life Erickson was the leader, did not for some 

 reason or other go back to "Wineland," and no others had the cour- 

 age to undertake such a voyage in the small vessel of those days. 



In America the grape is growing in the sunny South and the 

 cold North. Here in the North we have the wild grape that is just 

 as hardy as the oak, and will climb on top of the tallest oak, and a 

 temperature of 100 above in summer and 40 below in winter will 

 do it no harm. If a vine is planted to climb a tree for beautifying, 

 plant it fifteen or twenty feet away and train on supports until it 

 reaches the tree, then it will climb and also bear fruit plentifully. 

 But that is not the best way to plant if fruit is the main object in 

 planting, as that way the fruit is hard to gather, but rather plant 

 so the vines will run along a fence, or make an arbor where one can 

 take comfort in the heat of summer. 



As a fruit the wild grape is not to be despised, as it makes one- 

 of the finest jellies, and its canned juice is appreciated for a number 

 of culinary purposes and a healthy drink when diluted with water. 



