rapes. 
REPORT ON GRAPES. 
Cc. W. SAMPSON, EUREKA. 
The grape crop around the shores of Lake Minnetonka was a good 
average crop. The season was early all the way through. The vines 
put out early in the spring and continued about two weeks ahead all 
the way through. Although we had an extremely dry season I could 
not see as it did much damage to the grapecrop. The grapes may 
not have been quite so large as common, but they ripened in fine 
shape and were of a delicious flavor. 
I visited Mr. G. W. Jones’ vineyard and found it in very good shape; 
the Moore’s Early were getting ripe and were shipped to market on 
August eighteenth and twentieth, and were perfectly ripe. The Del- 
aware were ripe August twenty-eighth and were of very fine flavor. 
The Iona were a light crop, as the mildew of two years ago nearly 
killed them, but I saw some very large fine bunches. 
The next vineyard visited was Prof. H. W. Malcolm’s, and this was 
the most perfect in culture of any that I visited,and bore a splendid 
crop. I next visited the small vineyard of Mr. A. D. Leach, on Lake 
Minnewashta, and here I saw some model vines and in perfect con- 
dition. I think Mr. Leach could give us grape growers some valua- 
ble suggestions as to his manner cf treating vines. I noticed 
that he had his grapes well thinned out and all the bunches were 
large and of a uniform size. He had one Delaware vine that bore 
from two-year-old wood sixteen small baskets of grapes. If we 
could make a five-acre vineyard bear like this one there would bea 
small fortune in 1t. 
I next visited Mrs. S. Irwin’s vineyard, and here also found a 
splendid crop of growing grapes. The vines were in excellent shape 
and looked healthy and vigorous. I believe this vineyard was not 
injured by the mildew of two years ago, as she was one of the for- 
tunate ones who sprayed their vines thoroughly. Mrs. Irwin hasa 
five-acre vineyard containing some 3,000 vines, situated on Christ- 
mas lake, Minnetonka being on the west side. I understand that she 
harvested and sold from this vineyard two years ago $1,500 worth of 
fine grapes. 
Mr. H. L. Crane’s vineyard was also found to be in excellent condi- 
tion,and it ripened a fine crop of grapes. Some of the choicest grapes 
found in the Minneapolis market come from this vineyard. I 
think Mr. Crane will agree with me that there is still a very hand- 
some profit in growing grapes on the shores of Minnetonka. 
On my own place I have about 6,000 vines; about 3,000 were in bear- 
ing the past year, and I picked and sold 4,000 small baskets of grapes. 
The grapes were of good size, and I never tasted sweeter or finer 
flavored grapes than those grown this year. The dry weather did 
not seem to affect them in the least, in fact they seemed to thrive 
