1891.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT— No. 4. 387 



year's prices are no criterion, as it was an unusually wet season, 

 and grapes did not ripen. 



Slierbom. — About ten acres in vineyards ; Concord; crop does 

 not promise to be an average one ; market, Boston ; grape culture 

 decreasing in this town ; little money made on them the past ten 

 years. 



Shrewsbury. — Ten acres in vineyards ; Moore's Early, Concord, 

 Worden ; crop promises to be an average one in quantity and 

 quality ; estimated yield, seven tons ; crop marketed in Worces- 

 ter ; average price per pound received last year, seven cents ; 

 grape culture in vineyards is increasing in this town. 



Westborough. — Possibly four or five acres' in vineyards ; mostly 

 Concord ; crop will hardly be an average one ; estimated yield, 

 eight to ten tons ; some of crop goes to Boston, but most is mar- 

 keted in town ; grape culture in vineyards not increasing. There are 

 three or four small houses, most of which are heated by hot water. 



A warm, dry soil is best suited to the grape ; and a south 

 slope, with shelter of wood or belts of trees on the north- 

 east and west to prevent the winds from blowing away the 

 hot air created by the heat of the sun, is always desirable. 



With careful management, grapes can be profitably grown 

 in favorable localities in Massachusetts, and a ripened crop 

 be depended upon four years out of five. The profit 

 depends largely upon the care and economy exercised by 

 growers in all the details of the work. The production is 

 so abundant that there is little or no profit to the ordinary 

 grower, but to the painstaking cultivator a superior article 

 still furnishes a fair remuneration. 



It is not the purpose of this article to create a boom in 

 grape culture, or to encourage farmers to rush into the busi- 

 ness, but to show that in favorable localities the grape crop 

 may be made a source of profit. 



There is liability to overproduction, but it is safe to 

 assume that a first-class article will always find a market. 



All crops are liable to injury from insects, diseases and 

 unfavorable atmospheric conditions, and the grape crop is no 

 exception. 



The chief drawbacks to the cultivation of this excellent 

 fruit are low 7 prices, caused by competition from points far- 



