Annual Meeting of the Mississippi Valley Grape Growers' Association. 189 



L. E. Ai'mstrongj from E. J. Ga}', 

 says: "My experience is against 

 deep cultivation, over-fruiting while 

 young, and summer pruning; all cul- 

 tivation should cease after July." 



John S. Sej^mour, Eureka, saj's: 

 "Tarring posts is useless. Five years 

 ago I boiled 400 white oak posts in 

 gas tar, and some of them are rotted 

 off. Twelve years ago I put in 200 

 posts ; 175 of them were green chin- 

 quepin oat, and 25 were white oak, 

 well seasoned. The latter rotted off 

 in five or six years ; some of the green 

 chinquepins lasted ten years." 



Jefferson County. -J e'Serson is claimed 

 to be one of the best counties for grape 

 growing in the State. The business 

 is quite largel}' j^'^ii'sued there, and yet 

 but half a dozen of the grape growers 

 have thought it worth while to report. 

 The totals are as follows : Planted in 

 1869, 900 vines, and 4\- acres, all 8x8 ; 

 two years old, 1,000 vines, and 4 acres; 

 over two years old, 8,000 vines, and 15 

 acres. Grapes sold, 8,000 pounds, at 

 5 to 20 cents a pound. Wine made, 

 2,320 gallons ; on hand, 2,490. 



A. Bainbridge, Do Soto, ssiys : "The 

 season has proved to me that trench- 

 ing for planting does not prevent the 

 rot of grapes in this neigborhood. I 

 think that grapes planted in trenched 

 land will do better in dry seasons than 

 those planted in holes dug." 



Isidor Bush & Son, Bushberg, write: 

 "We deem it interesting to know, 

 from the experience of the past year, 

 first, that the rot was worse where 

 the ground was well cultivated than 

 where it was neglected ; worse on 

 vines that were well pruned than on 

 those on which apparently too much 

 wood had been left; worse on those 



which had good soil and made a vig- 

 orous growth, than on poor soil and 

 weak plants ; worse where summer 

 pruning was done than where it was 

 neglected. All this, probably, in con- 

 sequence of the extreme wet season. 

 Second, that we have probably suffi- 

 ciently desii'able grapes for red wines, 

 and are planting too many thereof, in 

 proportion to white wine grapes. 

 Concord, ]^3'orton, Hartford and Ives 

 have taken the place of Catawba in 

 nine-tenths of our vineyards ; but 

 the}- can not supply its place as a wine 

 grape. We look upon Goethe, Maxa- 

 tawney, Herbemont, Cunningham, 

 Rulander, Louisiana, and even to Mar- 

 tha and North Carolina, as the vines 

 we should plant largely for white 

 wine (until we find better varieties), 

 to produce of the latter at least as 

 much as of red wines. The Delaware 

 makes one of the very best white 

 wines ; but last year, with us, and in 

 most places with others, it lost the 

 foliage, and did not fully ripen its de- 

 licious fruit. Third, that Rogers' No. 1 

 (Goethe) and No. 4 (Wilder), are 

 among our finest table grapes, and 

 bring a very good pi'ice. We sold 

 200 pounds at wholesale at 20 cents 

 per pound, while Concords brought at 

 the same time only 10 cents. 



Scattering. — From various other 

 portions of this State reports, more 

 or less complete, have been received 

 from about 30 vine growers, giving 

 the following result : Planted in 1869, 

 49,100 vines, and 26 acres; distances 

 varying from 6x6 to 8x11 ; the larg- 

 est number, 8x8 and 6x8 ; two j^ears 

 old, 9,400 vines, and 47 acres ; over 

 two years, 18,750 vines, and 77 3-4 

 acres. Grapes sold, 16,675 pounds, 



