108 THE GRAPE IN KANSAS. 



MORE ABOUT GRAPES. 



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

 meeting of the Kansas State Horticultural Society : 



WILLIAM CUTTER, Junction City, Geary county: The grape crop of 1897 was 

 an abundant one, both east and west. The result has been extremely low prices. 

 Growers are not very enthusiastic; no large vineyards are being planted. Still, 

 the abundant crop has encouraged farmers to plant more, and the demand for 

 vines is quite heavy. Many new varieties have proven comparatively worthless. I 

 am sorry to say that quality has no chance when compared with size. Concord 

 establishes the price, and Worden, Diamond, Agawam, Wilder, Brighton and 

 others have to fall in line. Small grapes, particularly white ones, bring up the 

 rear, at prices that hardly pay for picking. I will not give a detailed account of 

 the many varieties I have bearing this year, but I will mention a few of the more 

 worthy. Concord still leads for market, and for the farmer (who usually neg- 

 lects his vines) there is no other variety that will pay as well. Still, we should 

 not be satisfied with one variety only. It is as easy, and more pleasant and profit- 

 able, to have grapes for use three months as for only three weeks ; besides, you 

 ought to have black, white and red varieties. Tastes differ, only the grower is a 

 good judge of any kind of fruit. Moore's Early is the earliest grape worthy of 

 cultivation, and it is a poor bearer. Telegraph comes next, and is hardy and 

 productive, a fair table grape and a good shipper. Worden comes before Con- 

 cord, and, while one of the best table grapes, the skin is too tender for market; 

 it sells above Concord in country towns. Woodruff, Agawam and Catawba are 

 worth all the rest of the good grapes. Moore's Diamond, the best white grape, 

 is large, hardy, productive, and of good quality, but does not last long; and, ex- 

 cepting a few for home use, no other white grape has any value. The Empire 

 State and Green Mountain are both good, but will not pay for extra cost of 

 growing. Never plant grapes on a southern slope in central Kansas; a clay sub- 

 soil is preferable. 



B. F. SMITH: With grapes, we get the least money for the work done. My 

 neighbors grow them ; I do not. They work, spray, pick, prune, and furnish the 

 filled baskets all for ten cents. Is there any money in that? I would not dis<- 

 courage grape growing, but I think it is throwing away time and money. 



J. L. WILLIAMS: I was at the vineyard of a Jackson county grape grower 

 when he had a large crop of grapes. I asked him what he would do with them ? 

 He said : "Sit up nights and eat them." A pretty good idea ; for I think them 

 very wholesome, and that they should be grown for home use. When I first 

 raised grapes, I got twenty cents a pound for them ; but now they sell at two or 

 three cents a pound, and it does not pay. 



SECRETARY BARNES : Two or three cents per pound is a good price for grapes; 

 but when they get down to three-quarters of a cent they do not pay. They do 

 little good in cold storage. We should raise a crop that ripens later. Our grapes 

 are ripe and all gone while the weather is yet hot. If we could grow a grape to 

 ripen after all other grapes are gone, they would pay well. Grapes from New 

 York, and other places sell here at five to eight cents a pound a few weeks after 

 our grapes were sold for three-quarters of a cent a pound. We should correct 

 this by growing a very late grape. 



C. C. COOK : I raise Concords, and when I want them early I trim the foliage 

 closely, and let the sun ripen them. I sometimes keep them until November. 



T. W. HARRISON : Is it any more work to raise an acre of grapes than an 



