Reports on Grapes. 



325 



EEPOETS ON GKAPES. 



Friend Husmann : 



October number of Grape Culturist 

 before me — have run a glance over it 

 — generally good — but if your corres- 

 pondents are none of them better 

 posted than the one from Cleveland, 

 there is no reliance to be placed on 

 their letters. We have thousands of 

 acres of Catawbas here, and not a 

 rotten grape this year to speak of — 

 all ripening beautifully, surpassing its 

 best years. Isabellas were never bet- 

 ter, and the best price wo can get 

 wholesale is four cents per pound, 

 while Catawbas sell at five. Of varie- 

 ties grown around Cleveland, I am 

 sure everything is being tested that is 

 known; for many vineyards that I 

 have visited have thirty to forty sorts, 

 with which a trial is made, and my 

 grounds have shown this year over 

 eighty varieties for comparison, and 

 have been visited and examined by 

 hundi-eds of people. I 



It is true that as yet the leading i 

 vineyards are mostl}^ made of Cataw- j 

 ba, Concord, and Delaware, but there ; 

 are acres of Iowa, Ives, Clinton, and 

 hundreds of vines of Martha, the ' 

 Rogers, etc., etc. 



Thank you for your suggestion to | 

 our people to " come out West," but [ 

 we are just in the right place for : 

 grape-growing, and some of us know i 

 how to do it. F. E. Elliott. 



[We are glad our Cleveland corres- 

 pondent has brought friend Elliott 

 out, and we would suggest that they 

 "fight it out on that line." Whose | 

 report is the correct one ? We hope 

 friend Elliott is right, for we want 



grape culture to prosper, and the 

 hearts of its votaries made glad by 

 abundant crops, wherever it is fol- 

 lowed. If our friends at Cleveland 

 are content Avith their location, and 

 think they '■' know just how to do it," 

 please let them diffuse some of that 

 knowledge through the Grape Cul- 

 turist. It is just what we are trying 

 to learn, and to impart to our readers. 

 Let the knowing ones be a little more 

 liberal with their information. — Ed.] 



Kkytesville, Mo., Xov. 1, 1870. 



Mr. Editor : 



Dear Sir: — There was no rot or 

 mildew on the grapes this season. I 

 have some thirty varieties bearing, all 

 of which did well except the Herbe- 

 mont, which had all the buds killed 

 by the freeze in April. I had the 

 misfortune to take up the vines the 

 day before the freeze. I trimmed my 

 vines all through the winter, from No- 

 vember till late in April. The time 

 of trimming made no appreciable dif- 

 ference in the crop. 



The Delawares were three-fourths 

 destroyed by birds. Taylor a full 

 crop. One vine had 24 pounds of 

 pretty well-ripened grapes ; must 90. 

 lona overcropped ; must 90. 



Concord, one-fourth of buds killed 

 by the Api*il freeze; one-fourth de- 

 stroyed by birds and cracking : 2,000 

 pounds were sold and given away, yet 

 from 600 vines I made 400 gallons of 

 wine. 



Norton, a good crop, considering 

 the cultivation the}' received, for it 

 was simply one plowing, as I under- 



