Annual Meeting of the Mississippi Valley Grape Growers' Association. 191 



5th. "We made last year the first 

 ■\riue made this side of Springfield. 

 One hundred and fifty gallons of Con- 

 cord wine from 200 vines in their first 

 bearing ; average product per vine, 8 

 pounds. 



6th. Weather very unfavorable the 

 forepart of summer. Eot 40 per cent, 

 in Catawba, 70 per cent, in Isabella, 

 20 per cent, in lona, 2 per cent, in 

 Clinton and Taj'lor ; a few berries in 

 Concord. No rot at all in Eulandei", 

 Louisiana, Martha, Hartford, Dela- 

 ware, Mary Ann, Norton, Cynthiana; 

 on the latter variety I found a bunch 

 of grapes (two inches under ground, 

 grown on a rooted layer), in February 

 last. It was colored, matured, per- 

 fectly sound 3'et, and good to eat. 



Little injur}^ done by insects, but 

 quite considerable by birds. When 

 the man}' vineyards that are now be- 

 ing planted, especiall}' in our neigh- 

 borhood, come into bearing, birds Avill 

 no longer be the pests they now are. 



I have never seen mildew here on 

 any vine. Am experimenting with 

 about ten European varieties imported 

 from Switzerland and Hungar}', and 

 even they showed no sign of mildew 

 the last unfavorable season, and kept 

 their foliage perfectly green and heal- 

 thy up to the first killing frost in 

 November. 



More vines have been planted this 

 Avinter than ever before, and we have 

 established a perfect grape nursery, 

 in order to be able to supply the 

 growing demand for roots. 



Our vineyards are on Oliver's prairie, 

 three and a half miles south of Granby. 

 We are experimenting with about fift}' 

 varieties of American grapes ; intend 

 to plant another experimental vine- 



yai'd on timber land (a hill of gentle 

 slope) next fall. All the Fox grapes, 

 Rogers' Hybrids and Delawares, do 

 splendidly on our prairies. The sum- 

 mer grapes do well, also ; but we in- 

 tend to plant them mostly on hills 

 and woodlands, where grapes similar 

 to Norton grow wild in abundance. 

 Yours truly, 



Hermann Jaeger. 



Conclusion. — On footing up the num- 

 ber of vines and acres reported in Mis- 

 souri, and reducing the number of 

 vines to acres, taking 6x8 as an aver- 

 age distance, gives us 1,031 1-4 acres. 

 The grapes sold by those who have 

 reported, amount to 73,475 pounds, 

 which, at an average price of 8 cents 

 a pound, gives $5,878. The number 

 of gallons of wine reported as made 

 last year is 80,010. It will be evident 

 to those familiar with the State, that 

 not one-twentieth of the vineyards 

 have been reported. Taking $1.00 

 per gallon as an avei'age value of the 

 wine made, and multiplying the 

 figures above by 20, adding the pro- 

 duct of Hermann, gives us $1,875,- 

 317 50 as the annual value of the 

 grape crop of the State. The esti- 

 mate is undoubtedly quite too small, 

 yet it shows an interest of considera- 

 ble magnitude. 



The total number of vines reported 

 as planted in 1869, reduced to acres, 

 is about 132 acres against about 194 

 acres planted in 1868, a falling off of 

 almost one-half. Near the large mar- 

 ket of St. Louis there was little if 

 any falling oft'. The number of gal- 

 lons of wine reported on hand does 

 not equal the number made last year 

 by some 10,000 gallons. 



The reports obtained possess con- 



