GRAPES BEST ADAPTED TO MINNESOTA. 205 



VARIETIES OF GRAPES BEST ADAPTED TO 

 MINNESOTA. 



J. W. MURRAY, EXCELSIOR. 



If I were raising but one grape for profit, I would raise no other 

 "but the Delaware. Next, in the line of red grapes, is the Brighton. 

 That is one of the finest grapes grown in the northwest. Next is 

 the lona. I am located in one of the most favorable grape regions 

 in the northwest, on the south shore of Lake Minnetonka. It will 

 ripen there in most situations. The Rogers No. 15 is a very fine 

 grape, subject to the objection that after four or five years it will 

 mildew. Now to get to the black grapes. The Concord stands at 

 the head so far as grapes raised to sell are concerned. My experience 

 is, and it is borne out by the testimony of some of the most promi- 

 nent commission men, that the only grapes that it will pay to grow to 

 ^ell are the Concord and the Delaware. They will not pay as much 

 for any other kind of grape as they will for the Concord and Dela- 

 ware. 



Then there is the Janesville. Where you must have a hardy 

 :grape or none, it is valuable. Where you can raise the Delaware 

 or Concord it is not worth ground room. Moore's Early would be 

 the king of grapes if it bore as heavily and the vines were as re- 

 liable as the Concord, because it is considerably earlier. Black 

 grapes are the same to most people. With me the Moore's Early 

 proved such a poor bearer that I finally dug them all out except a 

 •dozen for my own use. It is a poor bearer, and it is very hard to get 

 a good vine because the spurs will kill out in the winter time. I dug 

 them all out. The Cottage grape is a fine, good grower, the grape is 

 very sweet ; but after mentioning those qualities the list is exhausted, 

 and it is hardly worth ground room. The Lady and the Martha 

 are two white grapes, and we have found they do not do very well 

 with us. They are tardy bearers and light bearers, and all such 

 things are useless to raise for profit. I could make twice as much 

 from some other varieties. Then there is the Prentiss. I used to 

 look through the grape books and wish I could produce such grape 

 vines as were produced in the books. In the Prentiss you have just 

 such a vine as you see in the books. It branches very beautifully, 

 too much in fact ; it is a very fine vine, very hardy — a white grape 

 -and pulpy and solid. I often wondered how so many grapes could 

 he packed on a stem. It has a rather peculiar growth, and on the 

 whole it is hardly worth raising. 



Of the new grapes, Campbell's Early is an eastern grape of the 

 black variety, of which I do not know enough to speak intelligently. 



