GRAPES. 321 



eral inches in diameter, and covers a space several rods in extent. There 

 are from three to seven berries in a cluster. The grapes are about one 

 inch in diameter, good to eat, make excellent wine, and the vine is won- 

 derfully productive. 



In setting out grape vines, I think we often make a mistake, and that 

 is, in setting them too near together. Large grape vines are great feeders, 

 and the roots run under ground a long distance in search of plant food. 

 A friend of mine found the roots of his grape vine had run ten feet under 

 ground, and the rootlets from it were clinging around a large bone. The 

 large vines with vigorous roots, therefore, running long distances, rob the 

 weaker vines of the nutriment necessary for their growth and fruit bear- 

 ing. This is one reason why a young vine set out in a vineyard amon^ 

 old vines, where one has died out, will not grow and slowly perishes. The 

 roots of the old vines grow deeper than the hole dug for the new vines, and 

 the young vine cannot compete with the old ones for nourishment. Thus, 

 we are often disappointed because the young vines set among old ones 

 do not grow, when the fact is the young vine has been robbed of its life 

 by the older and stronger vine. The only remedy is to dig quite deep and 

 enlarge the hole for the young vine,and then set strong two or three-year- 

 old vines in place of the missing vine. 



Notwithstanding the strong competition which our grape growers meet 

 with from Eastern grown grapes, yet the local prices have been quite 

 good for home grown grapes, especially for the Delaware. 



I have a fine seedling grape, larger and earlier than the Concord, which 

 last year when fully ripe was perfectly black; this year when fully ripe it 

 was red, the exact color of its parent, Rogers No. 15. 



