GRAPE 



2573 



GRAPE 



junctivitis is the very contagious disease known 

 as trachoma. Granular eyelids may be easily 

 spread by carelessness in regard to towels and 

 other toilet requisites. Anyone suffering from 

 this malady should see that no other member 

 of the family uses the same articles of toilet 

 that he does. W.A.E. 



GRAPE, the fruit of the vine, probably the 

 first fruit cultivated by man. It was known to 

 the Egyptians at least three thousand years ago, 



California] 

 1,980 



Michigan 

 121 



NewYorK 

 253 



Ohio 

 44 



^Pennsylvania.* Ontario ^Missouri 

 1 34 < 33 * 18 



Figures Represent Millions of Pounds 



GRAPES GROWN IN A YEAR 

 The average crop in seven leading centers of 

 production. 



and among the ancient Greeks and Romans 

 its use was common. From the days of earliest 

 history the vine has been- a favorite plant, 

 not only on account of its delicious fruit and 

 the wine it yields but because of the grateful 

 shade afforded by its climbing stems and large 

 leaves. In the Bible we read that the Israelites 

 dwelt in safety, each under his "vine and fig 

 tree" (/ Kings IV, 25), and how Pharaoh's 

 cupbearer dreamed a dream concerning a vine 

 (Genesis LX, 9-11). At the present day the 

 grape is one of the most important of food 

 fruits; it appeal's almost daily in some form in 

 the diet of nearly all countries of the world. 

 The earliest cultivated species was derived 

 from the wild grape found on the eastern coasts 

 of the Mediterranean Sea and in the neighbor- 

 hood of the Caspian Sea. The varieties now 

 cultivated number many hundreds. 



Methods of Culture. The grape is a climb- 

 ing plant, with large, three-lobed leaves, and 

 clings to every available support by means of 

 tendrils. The wild grape is propagated by 

 seeds, but the usual method of culture is by 

 taking cuttings or layers from established vines. 

 Cuttings are usually taken from the winter 

 trimmings of the vine and are planted in the 

 early spring in well-worked and fertilized 

 ground. When the cuttings have reached the 

 age of two years they are transplanted to the 

 vineyard or wherever it is decided to place 

 them. Layers are taken by bending a shoot 

 of a growing vine down to the ground and 



covering two or three joints or "eyes" with 

 earth. Roots then sprout downward and shoots 

 grow upward from each eye. These may be 

 separated from the buried branch and trans- 

 planted. Few if any plants require less care 

 than grapevines, but on the other hand none 

 responds more readily and bountifully to good 

 treatment. 



Care must be taken to prevent the young 

 vine from overburdening itself, for one that 

 bears too heavily at first may become perma- 

 nently weakened. The first season after tran>- 

 planting the vine should not bear any fruit 

 at all; from three to six clusters, according to 

 its size and vigor, is sufficient for the second 

 season; the third year it should produce about 

 ten pounds of grapes, and the fourth, double 

 that number. Twenty pounds per vine is con- 

 sidered an average crop, but it is recorded of a 

 famous Concord vine that it bore each year 

 at least ten bushels. Such a yield is, of course, 

 exceptional. Grapes bring varying prices, ac- 

 cording to quality, variety, season, etc. Choice 

 California grapes cost from thirty to forty 

 cents a pound in the winter. The popular 

 Concord grape may be purchased in the sum- 

 mer season for about twenty-five cents a 

 basket. 



One of the secrets of successful grape culture 

 is to make sure that the grapes arc grown on 

 shoots of that season's growth. At the begin- 

 ning of every winter all branches and shoots 

 must be cut baek to from two to five buds. 

 A vineyard in winter appears like a barren 

 waste of land almost covered with stumps. 



Car bohydrate s, ]9.2j 



Proteir\ 1.3 



-Fat. 1.6 



Ush.0.5 



COMPOSITION OF GRAPES 

 Figures indicate percentages. The heat-produc- 

 ing value of grapes ix 435 calories per pound, 

 therefore about equal to very lean round xteak. 

 brook trout, green corn anil bulled potatoes. Their 

 fuel value is thus seen to be not high. 



Vines need good, well-drained, warm soil and 

 a climate that is free from early fall and late 

 spring frosts. European vines, grown in the 

 open, stand alone, but the American varieties 

 need supports. The shoots arc usually either 



