44 THE GRAPE IN KANSAS. 



Ives, Moore's Early, and Worden. Have discarded Hartford, Ives, and Delaware. 

 Recommend Concord, Moore's Early, Worden, and Niagara. Have experimented 

 with Goethe and Pocklington; neither is a good bearer. I plant two year-old 

 vines, six feet apart, in rows eight feet apart. I till shallow with a small plow. 

 Prune in February or March; never summer prune, because the grapes ripen 

 and mature better in the shade of the foliage. I think trellises made of posts 

 and wire are best. Do not bag any. Pick by hand do not use a knife in eight- 

 pound basket. Market in western Kansas and Nebraska. Realize about thirty 

 dollars per acre. I consider them a good, paying crop. One-quarter of an acre 

 will pay any family well for home use. We put up unfermented grape juice ; 

 press the juice out with a cider-press and then raise to boiling-point and can. 

 The market is not as good as it was ten or fifteen years ago ; still one and one- 

 half cents per pound, with a good yield, will pay better than most other farming. 

 When I ship them I usually get two cents or more per pound. 



A. H. GRIESA, Lawrence, Douglas county : Have about one-half acre of grape- 

 vines, on black prairie land which is nearly level ; they are mostly Concord, with 

 some Worden, Moore's Early, Pocklington, Niagara, Delaware, Wilder, Goethe, 

 Agawam, Lindley, Dracut Amber, and Elvira. A great many should be dis- 

 carded, such as Maxatawney, Herbemont, Norton's Virginia, Jefferson, and Mis- 

 souri Reisling; would recommend Woodruff's Red, Lutie, and, for late, the 

 Columbian might be tried. I .have experimentally tried the three latter varieties 

 and Campbell's Early, Hicks, McPike, Lucille, Daisy, and St. Louis; these have 

 not all fruited yet. I plant one- and two-year-old vines, in rows 6x7 feet; culti- 

 vate as near clean as time will permit; prune in January and February. I think 

 a three- wire trellis, having posts twenty feet apart, is best. Summer prune a lit- 

 tle, to stop too rank a growth. Have not yet bagged any ; it would pay if the 

 price of grapes was better: but it is too expensive with the present prices. Cut 

 from the vines with a knife, and pack in O. A. nine-pound baskets; market 

 mostly at home ; they are not a large-paying crop. I have in former years put up 

 unfermented grape juice; press out the juice, boil it, and put up as canned. 

 Grapes growing in the valleys of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers do not pro- 

 duce excepting in a limited way, on account of the rot so prevalent most every 

 season; farther north, west or south they seem to rot less; here, only the more 

 rot-resisting kinds should be grown. The kind of land, slope, and culture, as 

 well as the varieties, are soon found out by every observing man, if he plants, 

 them. But for family use in the large region where we live, and where we ought 

 to have them in our yards, is the place to study as to best culture, best kinds, 

 and other details, as the few each family must have to supply one of the choicest 

 fruits for home consumption is time and thought well invested, and thus we find 

 varieties adapted to our place and our taste. For general purposes the Concord 

 fills the place for many ; Moore's Early does well, as also does Worden ; Martha, 

 for an early white variety, is good. One thing needing attention is to trellis them ;. 

 on a trellis they can be spread to give them needed air and light, so essential 

 to good fruit. We need here a later grape than any we now have ; all ripen too 

 early, while the temperature is high and insects plentiful, which soon ruin them 

 after they are ripe. Nothing in Professor ^Munson's list, that I have tried, is 

 adapted to our state. 



A. C. GRIESA, Lawrence, Douglas county: Any well-drained soil with any 

 slope will raise grapes; but the warm, sunny slopes are preferable; the fruit is 

 not so liable to rot when it has plenty of light and air. Have tested most of the 

 sorts in use twenty years ago, but discarded them because they were not profit- 



