82 THE GRAPE IN KANSAS. 



entirely without sand. There is no perceptible difference in the growth of vine 

 or fruit between those grown on sandy land or on land containing no sand- 

 There is, however, a considerable difference in the working; one has to have 

 more "sand in his craw" to work where there is no sand in the soil. My land is 

 nearly level ; only sufficiently undulating to prevent water standing on any part 

 of it; I therefore have had no experience with slopes. My first year's setting was 

 all of one-year-old vines ; since then have used two-year-old vines ; the difference 

 in cost is so little that it pays to buy two-year-old vines. I propagate some of 

 my vines, both by cuttings and layering, and these are set in the fall, with very 

 satisfactory results. For the sake of uniformity, the vines are all set eight feet 

 each way. I prune any time after the leaves fall in the autumn until the sap 

 begins to flow in the spring. I have no hard-and-fast lines for pruning, but 

 aim to get rid of as much old wood as possible, leaving enough new wood to bear 

 a crop, and some spurs near the ground for renewal. I do very little summer 

 pruning. 



I made a trellis by setting the posts sixteen feet apart along the rows, putting 

 on two No. 12 galvanized-iron wires. For cultivating a one-horse plow is a 

 very useful tool. With it you can run shallow enough not to interfere with the 

 roots, and can throw the dirt to the vines so as to cover all the weeds in the row, 

 and so that hand hoeing is not necessary. The next time the earth must be 

 worked back, and the land side of the plow will have to go next to the row, and 

 quite a little space will be left ; part of this can be reached with a five-tooth 

 cultivator; but there will still be a part of it that nothing but "the man with 

 the hoe" can reach. Take an ordinary hoe to a blacksmith and have the shank 

 straightened, so that you can use it like a shovel, and you will have a tool that 

 will be much superior to an ordinary hoe for this work. A two-horse cultivator 

 is sometimes used for working the middles, but the wheels of this implement 

 prevent going close to the vines. No one tool is best; each has its uses. As a 

 general rule I do not mulch, but with varieties that are liable to winter-kill, such 

 as the Goethe, I sometimes put the vines on the ground and cover with straw or 

 strawy manure. The fruit is picked in half-bushel baskets and brought to the 

 packing shed, and all the overripe and inferior berries are picked out. The 

 packing is done in eight-pound baskets, and if the grapes are to be shipped the 

 baskets are coveied, but if for the local market covers are not used. 



I sold the most of my grapes three years ago to commission merchants, for 

 shipping. Since then the most of them have gone to the local market. When 

 Moore's Early first appears in the market the price starts at about forty cents 

 per eight-pound basket, and by the time the Concord harvest is at its highest 

 tide the price goes down to ten cents. When we could sell the most of the crop 

 in large quantities for shipment grape growing paid handsomely ; but since then 

 the demand has become so small, the local market overstocked, and, with the 

 consequent low prices and the yearly increasing depredations of the birds, the 

 balance is apt to be on the wrong side of the ledger. I tried sacking the fruit 

 when I had only enough for home use, and found it a complete protection from 

 the birds and insects. Have not tried it in a commercial way, but if it will pay 

 to grow grapes at all it will surely pay to sack them. For two years past the 

 ravages of the birds have been appalling to the grape grower. Some of my 

 neighbors shoot the birds, but this is expensive, and, as the birds that do the 

 mischief are migratory, shooting seems to do little good. If the money spent for 

 shooting material was used in sacking the grapes the results would doubtless be 

 far better. There are now more than enough grape-vines growing in this vicin- 

 ity to supply the local demand, and if some other market cannot be found I 



