THE GRAPE IN KANSAS. 65 



one- and two-horse cultivator. Prune by cutting back to Jwo eyes; never sum- 

 mer prune. Prices will not warrant bagging grapes. I prefer eight-pound bas- 

 kets; market at home and at Lost Springs. I realize from twenty-five to 

 thirty-five dollars per acre. They are a paying crop. 



STEPHEN STOUT, Axtell, Marshall county: I am raising Concord grapes for 

 family use only, and am succeeding very well; our soil is a very fine, black loam ; 

 subsoil, porous clay that holds water well. My neighbors' bees have troubled 

 me very much; they suck out the juice, leaving the skin and pulp; hence the 

 cheese-cloth experience gives good results. I can keep the cloth from year to 

 year, with care. I set my vines six feet apart; cultivate with a six- tooth cultiva- 

 tor; prune in March, when not frozen ; in the summer I pinch off the ends of the 

 vines, as it gives more strength to the fruit. My trellis is made of two-inch slats 

 nailed to posts. I never bag grapes, but instead put cheese-cloth over the vines, 

 with a stone in each corner to hold it down ; this keeps bees and insects off. 



C. E. DICKEY, Irving, Marshall county: I have sixty grape-vines growing on 

 level, black loam; they are Concord, Worden, and Salem. I would recommend 

 these varieties, but the Salem needs protection in winter. I plant two-year-old 

 vines, eight feet apart; cultivate shallow in the spring, and mulch the 1st of 

 July; prune in February; never summer prune; the sun scalds the fruit if 

 pruned during warm weather; have never tried bagging. I put up unfermented 

 grape juice; my process is to scald and press the pulp, and then strain, and can 

 in glass, as we do fruit. 



JAMES M. WILLIAMS, Home, Marshall county: I have 300 grape-vines growing 

 on black loam underlaid with limestone which slopes to the southeast. My va- 

 rieties are Concord, Moore's Early, Hartford Prolific, Newton, Pocklington, and 

 Niagara; all of them excepting the Concord and Moore's Early winter-killed. 

 These two varieties I would recommend. I prefer two-year-old vines, set six to 

 eight feet. The first year I plant corn between the rows as a shade ; the second 

 year I plant potatoes and cultivate well; prune in the fall. My trellis is three 

 wires stapled to posts. I do not bag my grapes, and know nothing about it. I 

 cut the grapes from the vine with a sharp knife, and place in baskets ; sell to the 

 neighbors and in town of Home, receiving from two and one-half to five cents per 

 pound. I consider them a paying crop. In the winter of 1898-'99 the vines 

 were all winter-killed, so that the crop of 1899 was a failure; about May 1, 1899, 

 we were satisfied that the vines were killed, so we cut them off. The Moore's 

 Early and Concord sprouted up and made a vigorous growth, and are bearing 

 full this summer [1900], but not one of the other varieties ever started. A neigh- 

 bor of mine has a vineyard of 1000 grapes, nearly all Concord; they were winter- 

 killed ; some of them he cut back, others he left. Those that he pruned sprouted 

 and made a good growth, but those that were left never sprouted, and that is the 

 case with all I have talked with. 



CHARLES FERN, Lindsborg, McPherson county: I have a few grape-vines 

 growing on clay subsoil. An eastern slope is better than a northern, but slope 

 makes no difference if the ground is well drained. Plant either one- or two-year- 

 old vines, eight by nine feet ; prune and tie them to the trellis, which is common 

 posts and wires, early in March. Cultivate with a one-horse Planet Jr. hoe; a 

 five-toothed hoe, with the fifth hoe behind, is the best implement. I have 

 mulched, but it draws the roots to the surface, and then when the winds blow 

 the mulching off they winter-kill. Have tried Concord and Moore's Early. 

 Have discarded the latter, as it was not satisfactory. I would recommend the 

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