AND ^YmB MAKIKG. 



137 



acres, are located on tlie Islands and the western part of 

 our Lake Shore. Of these, about seven- eighths are 

 Catawba, the rest are Delaware, Concord, Norton, etc. 

 More than three-fourths of the fruit is used for wine ; 

 some is shipped to the city markets for table nse. The 

 crops are somewhat variable in amount and quality, and 

 sometimes damage is done to the vines by the winters, or 

 to the foliage by mildew, so that the fruit fails to ripen 

 perfectly. Still, as an average, the profits are considered 

 better than could be realized from any other use of the 

 land. The price at which good vineyard locations on the 

 Islands can now be bought is higher, I am told, than for 

 several years past, ranging from 1200 to $400 per acre. 



Our statistics of the amount of yield per acre of our 

 Island vineyards, and the amount of wine pressed an- 

 nually, are not very full or reliable. The assessor's re- 

 turns show that the aggregate of wine for the State 

 ranges from about 500,000 to over 1,000,000 gallons. 

 The returns as published for 1878 are 708,733 gallons, 

 and the number of pounds of grapes gathered, 10,341,715. 

 The entire statistics for that year for the two counties of 

 Ottawa and Erie, which embrace the Islands and portions 

 of the Lake Shore, are as follows : 



These figures are somewhat below the average yield of 

 the past ten years, and only about half as great as those 

 of exceptionally good seasons. The crop of 1879 was 

 about equal in amount to that of 1878, and superior in 

 quality. 



Pain^esville, 0. 



