GRAPE 



GRAPE 



1383 



the main purposes of the industry in California. They 

 cannot be made into raisins, are inferior to vinifera for 

 wirie and are less suitable for distant shipment as table 

 grapes. Scattering, small patches of the variety Pierce 

 (an improved sport of Isabella) are grown in the 

 cooler parts of the northern coast counties, and an occa- 

 sional patch of Concord in the San Gabriel Valley. 

 The crop of these vines finds a market in San Francisco, 

 Los Angeles and other large coast towns and is often 

 very profitable, but the market is small and easily 

 over-stocked. These grapes attain regularly a higher 

 percentage of sugar and lower acidity than is usual in 

 the eastern states and they have been used successfully 

 in the manufacture of unfermented grape juice, for 

 which they are particularly adapted. 



The vineyard industries of the Pacific slope, however, 

 will always be based principally on the growing of 

 vinifera grapes, owing both to their greater intrinsic 

 value for most purposes and to the fact that they cannot 

 be grown on a large industrial scale in any other part of 

 the United States. 



Certain American species of vines are nevertheless 

 essential to the success of California grape-growing, 

 owing to their resistance to the phylloxera which rapidly 

 destroys all vinifera varieties whenever it secures a 

 foothold in the vineyard. They are useful as stock on 

 which to graft the vinifera varieties and are extensively 

 used in the northern and central coast counties and in 

 certain sections of the great valley and the Sierra foot- 

 hills. The insect has not yet become established in 

 southern California nor in Imperial. The chief resist- 

 ant stocks used are varieties of riparia and rupestris, 

 although certain hybrids of these species with Berlan- 

 dieri, and vinifera are also used for special conditions. 

 The Labrusca varieties are almost as susceptible to 

 injury from phylloxera in California as the vinifera and 

 also require grafting on resistant stock in infested 

 regions. 



The most essential requirement for the successful 

 growth and bearing of vinifera varieties is a dry sum- 

 mer with abundant sunshine and a winter cold enough 

 to render the vines dormant for at least several weeks. 

 These conditions are found in California from the 

 Mexican to the Oregon borders, and in favored loca- 

 tions in several of the other Pacific slope states. Along 

 the coast north of Monterey Bay, the summer sea fogs 

 interfere with the ripening of the grapes and make the 

 control of the oidium difficult. These sea fogs cover a 

 belt which in the north extends considerably into the 

 interior but gradually becomes narrower as one pro- 

 ceeds south, until in the latitude of Santa Cruz, where 

 the mean annual precipitation falls below 20 inches, 

 grapes can be grown almost down to the sea. In the 

 remainder of California, grapes can be grown almost 

 everywhere that the elevation above sea-level is not 

 too great. In the latitude of Napa the limit is about 

 1,500 to 1,800 feet. Farther south, vineyards are found 

 at Ben Lomond in Santa Cruz County at 2,500 feet and 

 at Colfax in Placer County at 2,400 feet. At these 

 elevations vines succeed only in favored locations. 

 In others and at higher elevations, killing frosts often 

 occur both in spring and autumn. 



Grape-growing in a large way began in California 

 soon after the American occupation. In 1858, accord- 

 ing to the State Register, there were 3,954,548 vines in 

 the state, equivalent to about 6,500 arces. Collections 

 of European varieties were introduced and state aid 

 was secured for the promotion of viticulture. By 1870, 

 the vineyard acreage had increased to nearly 30,000 

 acres. Wine was produced in fairly large quantities, 

 but its sale was at first attended by many disappoint- 

 ments which discouraged planting and for ten years the 

 new vineyards barely sufficed to compensate for the 

 loss of vineyards by phylloxera in the north and a 

 peculiar disease of unknown cause in the south. 



In the meanwhile, the demand for Californian wines 



increased and a propaganda for extension with more 

 suitable methods and better varieties was earnestly 

 taken up. Again the state granted funds liberally, and 

 the agitation resulted in vine-planting and cellar-con- 

 struction throughout the state. At the same time, vast 

 plantings were made in the new Fresno region and 

 between 1880 and 1883 the vineyard area of Cali- 

 fornia increased from about 35,000 acres to nearly 

 140,000. 



This rapid expansion naturally led to over-supply 

 and inferior products, which restricted further exten- 

 sion. In the period from 1891 to 1897 the vineyard 

 area actually decreased owing to the rapid destruction 

 of the vines of the large Santa Clara section by phyl- 

 loxera and drought. In 1904 the vineyard area was 

 estimated to be about 200,000 acres and since then the 

 new plantings, especially of table grapes, have been 

 steady and the area in 1913 may be estimated roughly 

 at about 385,000 acres, of which about 75,000 consists 

 of table grapes, 130,000 of raisin grapes, and 180,000 

 of wine grapes. 



The vineyard products of California, according to 

 the statistician of the California State Board of Agri- 

 culture, for 1912 were: 

 Wine, 47,491,772 gallons; 

 brandy, 8,721,693 gal- 

 lons; raisins, 185,000,000 

 pounds; table grapes, 6,363 

 (1913) carloads. 



Vinifera varieties of 

 grapes have a very wide 

 range of adaptation. They 

 grow in all fertile soils, 

 but succeed best in light, 

 deep, warm loams in the 

 valleys and on the hillsides. 

 The American varieties 

 used as stocks are less 

 adaptable and some care 

 must be exercised in 

 choosing a stock suited to 

 the chemical and physical 

 character of the soil. The 

 extremes of temperature 

 and elevation endured by 

 vinifera vines are very great, especially if care is taken 

 in the selection of varieties. 



In the Pacific coast states outside of California, the 

 growing of grapes is still largely experimental. In 

 parts of Oregon and near the confines of Idaho and 

 Washington almost to the borders of British Columbia, 

 vinifera varieties of table grapes are giving very promis- 

 ing results in favored locations. The vines need some 

 protection in the winter by covering with straw or 

 earth, but the hot, dry summer will ripen even such 

 southern and late varieties as Flame Tokay and Corni- 

 chon. The American varieties succeed in a much wider 

 territory in these states. The varieties most favorably 

 mentioned are Concord, Delaware, Diamond, Moore, 

 Niagara and Worden. In parts of Arizona and of southern 

 Nevada and Utah, vinifera vines have been planted 

 and promise to be profitable for local sale or, in special 

 locations, for early shipments. 



Propagation and cultivation. 



New vines are grown from cuttings of one-year-old 

 dormant wood. These cuttings should be from 10 to 

 18 inches long, the shorter cuttings for moist soils in the 

 cooler localities and the longer for drier soils in hot 

 regions. A 14-inch cutting is usually employed. It is 

 generally best to root the cuttings in a nursery and 

 plant them out in the vineyard the following spring. 

 In well-prepared, moist soil they may be planted 

 directly in place, only one bud being left above the sur- 

 face. Where phylloxera exists, resistant vines must be 

 used. These are obtained by grafting a one- or two- 



1732. Trunk of a vinifera 

 grape, with the fruit-bearing 

 canes cut back. 



