VITIS 



VINIFERA 



Bombay 



Lanang Grape. 



Bashahr Grapes. 



Bombay. 



Deccan. 



Foona. 

 Nasii. 



Cultivation. 



Varieties. 



Green Manure. 

 Transplanting. 



THE GRAPE VINE 



price of fresh grapes is about one rupee for a kilta-iull." " Sungnam is the highest 

 point in the valley where the vine thrives." 



In Kanawar, says Mr. Atkinson (a later writer), the fruit is called dakhang 

 and the plant Idnang, and there the vine is extensively cultivated a.s a field crop, 

 and ripens its fruits at an elevation of from 6,000 to 9,000 feet. He then adds 

 that a spirit called rak or ark is prepared from the juice, and also a wine called 

 sfieo. 



According to Hoffmeister (Travels, 1848, 377-8) there appears to have existed 

 a large trade in carrying fresh grapes from Bashahr to Simla. This traffic can 

 hardly be said to exist to-day, though the exports of raisins may be considerable 

 and, moreover, capable of infinite development. The available information 

 regarding the Kanawar industry is, however, both meagre and contradictory. 

 But with a community of cultivators possessed of an ancient tradition and 

 centuries of experience as vine-growers, much might be expected were viti- 

 culture organised on more scientific principles, and with sufficient capital and 

 commercial enterprise. 



Bombay. The earliest definite information regarding the cultivation 

 of the vine in the Deccan would appear to be that already briefly alluded 

 to in the paragraph above on history, viz. the passages from Ibn Batuta, 

 Thevenot, Mandelslo and Ovington, etc. Syed Siraj-ul-Hasan (I.e. 224) 

 says, " Looking at the present condition of the fruit trade at Poona and 

 Nasik, one realises what treasure lies buried in Aurangabad and its vicinity. 

 These two places send fruit to the value of many lakhs of rupees to the 

 Bombay market. The writer has personally seen thousands of acres of 

 lands under vine cultivation around Nasik. One merchant alone a 

 Bohra exports as much as 33,000 worth of fruit. Why should not 

 Aurangabad compete with the other cities on equal terms ? The soil is 

 excellent, as proved by the experience of centuries." 



The moist climate of the Konkan is not suitable for vine-growing, 

 but in parts of the Deccan, e.g. Ahmadnagar, Aurangabad, Poona, and 

 especially Nasik, grapes of fair quality are grown for the Bombay market. 

 The vines are usually trained on live posts cut from Erijthrina indica, 

 a tree known in the vernacular as the pdngara. The account of culti- 

 vation given by Woodrow, which has been already referred to, has special 

 application to Bombay, and should be consulted in this connection. More 

 recently P. S. Kanetkar, Superintendent, Empress Gardens, Poona, gives 

 a full account of viticulture in Poona and the Deccan (Ind. Plant, and 

 Gard., April 21 and 28, 1906). He names five distinct varieties which 

 are cultivated there, viz. obi or bhokri, fakdi or fakiri, habshi or kali, golkali 

 and sahebi. The field selected " has a kind of garden soil that is neither 

 black clay nor light red (murrum), but is a mixture of these, and contains 

 a fair proportion of lime." In the hot weather it is ploughed four or five 

 times and during the rains is left fallow, or Crot<ilri<i Jtincea (tag) is 

 grown and ploughed in as a green manure in September. The young vines 

 are reared in nursery beds and then transplanted. The season for trans- 

 planting the vine stocks is the month of January. The stock is prepared 

 from the cuttings of the October prunings. " The cuttings, about a foot 

 long, with four eyes or buds upon them, are chosen from ripe wood and are 

 planted in beds, the soil of which is manured with ashes or well rotted 

 farm-yard manure." They are put down in twos, and by January throw 

 shoots about 6 to 9 inches long and become fit for planting out. Previous 

 to planting out the young vines, the field is ploughed along and across, 

 the points of intersection of the furrows being 7 feet apart. At the points 

 where the furrows cross, pits are dug, in each of which a basketful of 

 manure is placed. A pair of young vines is then planted in each pit. 



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