CHAPTER XLVII. 

 THE GRAPE. 



The wide range of soils and climates in the United States in which grape 

 culture succeeds is an evidence of the great adaptability of the vine for varied 

 conditions. The grape thrives well on soils of very different character, and is 

 at home anywhere in a soil abounding in the plant foods it needs; provided 

 it has a well drained location, for it will not thrive with wet feet ; a compact 

 clay is about the poorest soil for the grape. The Delaware, which is inclined 

 to be a feeble grower in such a soil, grows with the utmost luxuriance on a 

 shaly hillside and finds its most congenial home in the sandy uplands of the 

 South. On these sandy lands we found that there is no plant grown which is 

 so readily affected by the commercial fertilizers as the grape. And we have 

 also found that a complete fertilizer, in which there is a fair percentage of 

 nitrogen and a large percentage of phosphoric acid and potash, is the best for 

 the grape. With such a fertilizer we grew the Niagara grape to such a size 

 that we were compelled to pack them in the carrier baskets used for peaches, 

 as the smaller grape baskets were entirely too small for the clusters. Our 

 vines were planted in rows ten feet apart and eight feet from each other in 

 the row. We used a modification of the Munson trellis. Posts were set in 

 the rows, and cross pieces two feet long nailed across their tops four feet from 

 the ground. Wires were stretched along the line of posts and two others 

 along the ends of the cross pieces. The arms were taken along the central 

 wire and the fruit shoots hung over the outer wires so as to completely shelter 

 the grapes beneath. This style of trellis is convenient for the cultivation, 

 pruning and harvesting of the grapes, and there is far less rot than on an 

 unsheltered, vertical trellis. For a fertilizer we would advise the following, 

 to make a ton. Acid phosphate, 1,000 pounds; cotton seed meal, 600 pounds ; 

 and muriate of potash, 400 pounds. Of this we would use 400 to 500 pounds 

 per acre, annually on a sandy soil. 



A ton of fresh grapes will remove from the soil 3.2 pounds of nitrogen, 

 0.2 of a pound of phosphoric acid and 5.2 pounds of potash. In the wood- 

 growth the amount of phosphoric acid is greatly larger than in the fruit, and 

 the amount of potash nearly three times as great. The main requirements, 



