The Canadian Horticulturi^ 



Vol. XXXII 



NOVEMBER, 1909 



No. II 



Grape Culture in Cold Districts' 



W. T. Macoun, Horticulturist, Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa 



I 



THE object of this paper is to show 

 that the grape can be grown for 

 home use over a very wide area of 

 country outside what are known as the 

 grape districts. Grapes grow wild in Can- 

 ada in the provinces of Nova Scotia, New 

 Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario and Mani- 

 toba. Two species are found, namely, 

 Vitis riparia which is found in all the 

 provinces mentioned, and Vitis aestivalis, 

 which is confined to south-western On- 

 tario. 



Vitis riparia is a very hardy species. 

 It is found in Manitoba as far north as 

 latitude 52 degrees, where the tempera- 

 ture falls very low in winter. Near its 

 northern limit in Manitoba it is found in 

 the valleys of the Red and Assinaboine 

 rivers and at the south end of Lake Win- 

 nipeg. The ability of this wild species to 

 survive and ripen its fruit in the cold cli- 

 mate of Manitoba should be an incentive 

 to the plant breeder to endeavour to orig- 

 inate varieties having large fruit of bet- 

 ter quality than this wild species which 

 will be hardy enough to be grown with- 

 out protection as far north and in as cold 

 districts as Vitis riparia grows wild. In 

 the meantime we must be content to 

 grow in as many places as we can the 

 varieties which, with a little protection 

 in winter, will ripen their fruit. 



At the Central Experimental Farm, Ot- 

 tawa, nearly 150 miles north of the Nia- 

 gara peninsula, we have tested in the 

 vineyard about 200 named varieties of 

 grapes. It will be of interest to know the 

 number of varieties which ripened in each 

 of the last five seasons. In 1904, which 

 was a very favourable year, there were 

 32 varieties ripened; in 1905, 90; in 1906. 

 100; in 1907, 26; and in 1908, n8, or 

 an average for the five years of 73 vari- 

 eties. 



When the seasons are very favorable, 

 most of the best commercial grapes 

 grown in the Niagara district ripen at 

 Ottawa. When the seasons are moderate- 

 ly favorable some of the best commer- 

 cial varieties do not ripen. The varieties 

 which are recommended for Ottawa or 

 places where the climate is somewhat 

 similar are: 



*A paper read at the conference of the Ameri- 

 can Pomological Society, held at 8t. Oatharines, 

 Ont.. in Soptember. 



Black: — Early Daisy, Manito, Moore, 

 Worden, Wilder. 



Red: — Moyer, Brighton, Delaware, 

 Lindley. 



White : — Golden Drop, Winchell, Dia- 

 mond. 



Of these varieties, the Worden, Wild- 

 er, Brighton, Delaware, Lindley, and 

 Diamond do not ripen thoroughly in the 

 most favorable seasons. The others ripen 

 practically every year. It has been obser- 

 ved that some varieties which are among 

 the earliest to ripen in warm seasons are 

 in unfavorable seasons later in ripening 

 (if they ripen at all) than some which in 

 a warm season are not so early. In other 

 words, the amount of heat changes the 

 relative earliness of the different sorts. 



The following varieties of grapes ripen 

 practically every year : — 



Very Early : — Florence, Early Daisy, 

 Manito, Champion, Pattison, Golden 



At First Sight 



I received a sample copy of 

 The Canadian Horticulturist 

 recently. Enclosed please find $1 

 in payment for a two years' sub- 

 scription. It is just the paper I 

 have been looking for. — Mrs. 

 Jas. A. Stewart, New West- 

 minster Co., B. C. 



■ 



Drop, Jewel, Bonne Madame (probably 

 Bonne dame de Vignala). 



Early : — Moyer, Moore, Winchell, 

 Telegraph, Brant, Canada, Hartford, 

 Dracut Amber, Peabody. 



Of those in the earliest group, Flor- 

 ence, Early Daisy, and Champion are 

 said to be of pure Labrusca parentage. 

 Pattison is probably Riparia and Labrus- 

 ca. Jewel and Golden Drop have blood 

 of Labrusca, Bourquiniana, and Vini- 

 brusca. Manito is a combination of La- 

 rusca, Vinifera, Bourquiniana, Lince- 

 cumii and Rupestris, and Bonne Madame 

 is pure Vinifera. It is interesting to note 

 that blood of six different species of 

 grapes are in these eight earliest vari- 

 eties. If with this extreme earliness and 

 ability to ripen even in the coolest sea- 

 .sons at Ottawa there were added the 

 hardiness of the Vitis riparia, grape 

 growing would be easy and perhaps com- 



237 



mercially profitable in the colder districts 

 where the temperature does not fall more 

 than five or six degrees below freezing 

 before the second week of October. In 

 the year of 1903, one of the most unfav- 

 orable for grape growing in the past 

 twenty-one years at Ottawa, nearly all 

 the varieties given in the above list ripen- 

 ed before October ist. 



During the twenty-one years in which 

 grapes have been grown at the Central 

 Experimental Farm, there has been lit- 

 tle winter killing of the vines when pro- 

 tected with from four to six inches of 

 soil, when the temperatures have been 

 very low with little or no snow on the 

 ground. The vines are trained to two 

 arms branching near the ground for the 

 greatest ease in covering. Those arms 

 remain for two, three, or perhaps more 

 years, being replaced as soon as they lose 

 their pliancy or have too many dead buds 

 by new arms which may be replaced in 

 alternate years. 



If the early ripening varieties of grapes 

 which have been mentioned escape the 

 spring frosts little need be feared from 

 winter injury. The swelling 'buds and 

 young shoots of grape vines are very 

 easily injured by frost, hence the great- 

 est precaution should be taken to prevent 

 injury. After many seasons' experience it 

 has been found desirable to leave the 

 vines protected with soil as long as pos- 

 sible without injury from moulding. The 

 buds are swelling rapidly and in some 

 cases have broken when the vines are 

 uncovered at Ottawa during the second 

 week of May and only twice in twenty 

 years has there been sufficient frost after 

 uncovering to injure them. The later 

 spring frosts are expected, the longer 

 should the vines be kept covered. 



If the warmest soils and a southern ex- 

 posure are chosen for the vines, if the 

 earliest ripening varieties are grown, and 

 if the vines are protected with soil in 

 winter and left protected until as late in 

 the spring as growth will permit, there is 

 no good reason why with the varieties 

 now available the culture of grapes for 

 home use should not be extended far 

 north in Canada and the United States, 

 and even grown in some parts of the 

 prairies of the north-west, where at pres- 

 ent it is supposed they cannot be grown 

 successfully. 



