Thinning, Gathering, Keeping, and Marketing. 113 



ripened bunches should be taken for this purpose. They should t e 

 picked on a dry day, and all imperfect berries removed from the 

 bunch. They should be allowed to dry a few days, which lessens 

 their liability to be broken. After trying many different modes of 

 packing, placing the bunches in pasteboard boxes containing a few 

 pounds each has been found best. No material for packing is put 

 between the bunches nor around them, but care is required to place 

 them so that the boxes shall be compactly filled. These are then put 

 in large wooden boxes for distant conveyance. 



Such varieties of the grape as have a tough skin are least injured 

 by long journeys ; while those like the Concord, which are tender, 

 cannot be sent to a distant market without many of the berries being 

 broken open, although this liability is somewhat lessened by drying 

 and slightly wilting for a week or two before packing. The Hart- 

 ford Prolific is packed in quite small boxes, so that the grapes may 

 be taken from them as required for use, as they will not bear much 

 handling. ' Most other varieties carry well. 



The question is often asked why certain "lucky" vineyard men 

 receive from twenty to forty cents per pound for their entire crop, 

 while others less favored are glad to accept eight, ten, or twelve 

 cents ? The answer must be, in the words of Franklin, " Diligence 

 is the mother of good luck." The most successful grape raisers, 

 after they have selected the best sorts and the best soil, still give 

 assiduous attention to three great points, viz : I. Good and constant 

 cultivation ; 2. Careful and judicious pruning and thinning out defec- 

 tive fruit ; 3. Careful gathering and the most careful packing. E. 

 M. Bradley, of East Bloomfield, N. Y., a skilful marketer, has 

 kindly furnished the author of this work the following statement of 

 his management : 



" Permit me first to say, that the market value of the grape is 

 more dependent upon judicious handling than that of any other fruit 

 with which I am conversant. While the grape is a fruit peculiarly 

 constituted to endure almost an unlimited amount of abuse in hand- 

 ling, no other fruit so richly pays every iota of care that may be 

 expended upon it. The most casual observer of our great fruit 

 markets cannot but have noticed the wide range of prices in all kinds 

 of fruit, produced by a difference in method and style of handling. 

 And no fruit with which I am acquainted suffers more from neglect in 

 growing and marketing, or more amply repays thorough husbandry. 



" Thorough pulverization of the soil to a liberal depth every week 

 during the growing season of the vine, a systematic thinning of fruit, 

 and removing of all superfluous growth, will secure a well matured 



