GRAPES. 247 



round, white, transparent; golden yellow at maturity; 

 flesh melting, vinous, delicate, Muscat flavor; quality 

 best ; best flavored white grape ever grown in the South. 



Ripens in July. 



BERCKMAN'S 



Holds foliage till frost ; bunches large, berries above me- 

 dium ; reddish pink ; first quality. Ripens in July. 



These are all native grapes of the foreign varieties. 

 Black Hamburg, Black Prince, and Chasselas Blanc or 

 White Sweet Water have been tried and "not found 

 wanting," especially the former. 



In fact, there is no doubt that Florida is destined to be 

 a great grape country, both for raisin-making and for the 

 production of wine. The grape loves a warm, dry, sunny 

 soil, more especially a sandy loam, and this Florida can 

 give almost over her whole surface. 



Here, as well as elsewhere, one of the greatest difficul- 

 ties the grape grower has to contend with is the pilfering 

 of the numerous birds. Covering the several bunches 

 with paper or cheese-cloth bags is a method often resorted 

 to for protection, but this is a very tedious process. An- 

 other is to pass strings across the tops of the vines, birds 

 will not alight under them. 



Still another, and a very effectual way to save the grapes 

 from the feathered robbers, is so to train the vines on hori- 

 zontal canopies that the dense mass of foliage on top will 

 shield the fruit below ; the birds then can not reach it, for 

 they will never fly up from beneath the canopy. 



Yet another and very effective method for protecting, 

 not only grapes, but all fruit, is one invented by a poor 

 East India native, who little expected its fame would ever 

 travel beyond the limits of his humble field. 



An empty bottle, a string, a cork, and a nail these are 



