CHAPTER IX 



THE GRAPE 



MANY species of the grape grow wild from 

 Canada to Texas, and it is more or less 

 cultivated in garden and vineyard through- 

 out this territory. As a home fruit, trained upon the 

 garden trellis or upon walls and the sides of buildings, 

 there are few homes where the grape may not be grown 

 with more or less success; but for commercial pur- 

 poses, it is only extensively cultivated in sections especi- 

 ally adapted to its growth. In the New England 

 States we find only here and there vineyards of small 

 extent, but as we go west the Hudson River and Lake 

 Shore vineyards assume large proportions, those of New 

 York, Ohio, Michigan, etc., being the largest grape- 

 growing regions in the world. The grape is grown to a 

 limited extent in the Middle and Southern States, and 

 to a larger extent on the Pacific coast, where, owing to 

 there being no rain during the ripening season, the fruit 

 can be grown upon self-supporting short trunks. At 

 the East varieties or hybrids of the Fox, Pigeon and 

 Summer grapes are most grown, while South and on the 

 Pacific coast the European variety and its hybrids, with 

 many American species, are more largely grown. 



The conditions most favorable for the grape are a 

 rather light soil, well underdrained, in full exposure to 

 sunlight and air, and on the south slope of high hills, 

 especially at the North, safe from late frosts in the 

 spring and early frosts in the fall; or on the borders 

 of large sheets of water, where frosts are prevented by 



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