K)6 THE GRAPE IN KANSAS. 



TENDING TO GRAPE-VINES. 



Very few vines give better satisfaction than the grapes, says S. W. Chambers, 

 in the American Cultivator. Cultivating them on a large commercial scale has 

 been reduced to a science that takes away a good deal of the sentiment which 

 attached to the old family grape. Grapes are so cheap now that many farmers 

 are giving up growing them for home use, depending upon the markets for all 

 their families consume. For a fruit that is so easily raised this is a mistake. 

 Enough grapes should be raised on trellises or arbors to provide eating for the 

 whole family from early fall to the middle of winter. There should be an abun- 

 dance on the table all the time, for there is no healthier fruit raised, and plenty 

 should be left over for canning. 



The mistake is often made on farms to let old out-of-date vines clamber over 

 the arbor. These should be torn down and some of the best varieties planted. 

 Select one variety each of the early, medium and late grapes. Then let them 

 grow in a thrifty condition, stirring and enriching the soil and about their roots 

 when they need it, and pruning them back every fall. About all the care grapes 

 raised for home consumption need in this way is to loosen the soil occasionally 

 ^and prune them back. More depends upon the pruning than most growers 

 imagine. This has more to do with the bearing of the vine than anything else. 

 Very often it is better to prune them back to the main stem, leaving only one 

 joint on each branch. Then let this joint produce one branch thai can be trained 

 to the trees. By repeating this operation the arbor can be covered with branches 

 and stems that have been carefully selected with a view to their special fitness. 

 There will be no abundant vine growth then, and every branch will produce its 

 quota of grapes. 



Grapes to ripen well must have air. In the first place the arbor should be so 

 located that the air can circulate evenly through it. If put away in some corner 

 -where no wind can blow through the vines, the fruit will not ripen well and molds 

 and fungi will be more apt to attack them. 



ALL ABOUT GRAPES. 



The following papers were read and discussed at the twenty-eighth annual 

 meeting of the Kansas State Horticultural Society : 



WILLIAM CUTTER, Junction City, Geary county: Grapes wintered well, in 

 -spite of a few days of twenty degrees below zero. Spring opened early and 

 warm, and tender varieties had to be uncovered by March 1. Although the 

 .grape is one of the earliest fruits to begin growth, even in the North, yet I lay 

 down and cover all my tender varieties. The dry season caused small size and 

 poor flavor, but it prevented rot. Of sixty bearing varieties, we find Concord the 

 best in its season; Telegraph, best early; Worden, best ripening between them; 

 Moore's Diamond and Missouri Reisling, best white; Woodruff, the most promis- 

 ing red. Of promising new grapes, Campbell's Early, Carman (a late variety), 

 Brilliant and Croton are entitled to notice. Scientific pruning is not essential. 

 There is an increased demand for vines, and before long every farmer will have 

 ^m abundance of grapes for his home use. 



PETER MOYER, Fort Scott, Bourbon county : The land should be trenched 

 eighteen to twenty-four inches deep. A good fertilizer, such as bon.es, partly de- 

 cayed wood, etc., should be put in the bottom of the trenches. In filling, put the 



