Reports on Grapes. 



299 



Doctor's Delawares, of Avhich he has 

 but two vines, were loaded Avith 

 grapes ; bunches large, well grown 

 and set thick on the stem — so close 

 you could not run a cambric needle 

 through the bunch without piercing 

 the fruit. A most beautiful grape 

 indeed. The Doctor's Catawbas are 

 perfect, large bunches and free from 

 disease. 



I am a subscriber to the " Grape 

 CuLTURiST," a reader of your valuable 

 work on the Grape, and something of 

 an amateur grape grower, and am 

 now putting out a vine3'ard in Kan- 

 sas, near the Capital. 



Give us 3'our opinion of grape cul- 

 ture in Kentucky. There are no less 

 than three or four varieties of wild 

 grapes growing here — one of which 

 is a white grape — but not having seen 

 it, cannot speak of its qualities. 

 Another, a purple grape, same size of 

 Catawba, but very acid and not good. 



At some future time, I will give you 

 an account more at length, with ref- 

 erence to soil, climate and varieties 

 tried. 



Yours very respectfully, 



J. M. Bent. 



[We know but little of Kentucky 

 climate and soil, but would think that 

 section of the State Avoukl certainly 

 be adapted to the culture of grapes. 

 —Ed.] 



LoNK Jack, Mo., Sept. 20th, JS70. 



Mr. Husmann, 



Dear Sir : — Perhaps my experience 

 in grape culture will not be out of 

 place. I set my first vines three j^ears 

 ago last May, with 1,000 second class 

 plants to begin with. I now have five 



acres in grapes and three in bearing, 

 from which I gathered 10,000 pounds 

 this season. I set the first vineyard I 

 ever saw, and from the instruction I 

 received from your writings I have 

 progressed so far. I have thirty-two 

 varieties, only a part in bearing. Va- 

 rieties in bearing : Concord, Hartford 

 Prolific, Isabella, Clinton, Ives, Rulan- 

 der, Cunningham and Delaware. Isa- 

 bella and Clinton not worth cultivation 

 here ; both rot badl}-. The Delaware has 

 dropped all its leaves, except those that 

 are grafted on Concord roots. My 

 Norton's, Catawba and Herbemont, are 

 not bearing yet, but all look well. The 

 rest of my varieties are grafts on Con- 

 cord and Isabella stalks. Those on 

 Isabella roots all show mildew, and 

 those on Concord roots are healthy. 



I have grafts of the Peggy, Her- 

 mann, Weehawken, Black Hawk, 

 Brant, Autuchon, Massasoit, Wilder 

 and Goethe. I have one vine each of 

 Black Malaga and White Malaga. I 

 got them from California; they have 

 not ripened their wood ; won't do here. 

 The Brant sunburns very badly. I 

 have Perkins, Maxatawne}-, Martha, 

 and Cynthiana grafted on Isabella, and 

 they all show mildew. I shall graft no 

 more on Isabella. 



My Peggy and Hermann which were 

 grafted in April last, shows fruit. I 

 think they are in a hurrj*. I shall set 

 two acres more this fall of the Martha 

 and Goethe. Am I right ? I put out 

 one hundred thousand cuttings last 

 spring, but some varieties failed en- 

 tirely ; I will get 10,000 vines, per- 

 haps. This is on account of dry 

 weather. 



I commenced without 820 in money, 

 and I have not got that much now. I 



