438 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 401. 



soft in tissue. It is usually better to waste heat through au 

 open ventilator than to keep a house close and lifeless and 

 breed thrips. The proper temperature of a greenhouse will 

 depend on its contents and on the season. With the usual 

 amateur collections it is best to keep the temperature rather 

 low till the end of the year, thus allowing the plants to 

 slightly rest, and gradually increase the heat as the days 

 lengthen. It requires much discrimination to properly 

 water plants in pots. No plants should ever be allowed to 

 be so dry that their feeding roots are destroyed ; on the 

 other hand, a sodden compact soil will prove fatal. It is 

 only by experience in a houseful of plants that one can 

 discover which require frequent and which more rare 

 attention. In winter the morning is the time to water and 

 syringe the foliage. If it is necessary to water late in the 

 day the foliage should not be wet or the house made too 

 damp, otherwise, with declining temperature, water on the 

 foliage will develop fungus or spot on many leaves, which 

 is as fatal to the leaf-cells as it is to the beauty of the 

 foliage. — Ed.] 



The Chautauqua Grape Belt. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — The largest strip of territory devoted to the cultivation 

 of table grapes east of California and the Rocky Mountains 

 stretches from the hills surrounding Chautauqua Lake, in New 

 York state, to tlie blue waters of Lake Erie, and then along the 

 shores of Lake Erie for a distance of about one hundred 

 miles. 



The Chautauqua Grape belt, as it is called, comprises the 

 vineyards of Cliautauqua County, New York, and of Erie 

 County, Pennsylvania. There are in tliis belt al:)Out 20,000 

 acres of vines. The rapid growth of viticultural interests m 

 this section of the country will come in the nature of a sur- 

 prise to most people. The industry dates back some twenty- 

 five years, but the greatest progress has been made within the 

 last fifteen years, the statistics of 1890 show that there were 

 9,180 acres of bearing vines and 1,620 acres of non-bearing 

 vines, making a total of 10,800 acres of vineyard in the Chau- 

 taucjua belt. Since tiien — that is, in only five years — the acre- 

 age of vineyards has increased one liundred per cent. There 

 is some (lueslion whether the census of 1S90 was complete, 

 for, according to figures furnished by Mr. George C. Snow, of 

 Penn Yan, who was Superintendent of Viticulture at the 

 World's Fair, a tliorough canvass of tlie Cliautauqua district 

 in March, 1893, showed that there were 17.624 acres of bearing 

 vines and 7,500 acres of non-bearing vines, making a total of 

 25,124 acres of vineyard. It may be here staled that the vine- 

 yard acreage of the Chautauqua belt has been at a standstill, 

 or decreased, during the past two years, owing to the low 

 prices for grapes and the general unsatisfactory condition of 

 the market. 



In the early years of the Chautauqua industry the growers 

 made large profits. Then the grape crop brought from three 

 to four cents a pound, or from $60.00 to $80 00 per ton. Many 

 vineyards yielded three tons to the acre, and some as much as 

 four tons. Even at $60.00 a ton, the Chautauqua grape-grow- 

 ers cleared about one hundred dollars net per acre. A well- 

 known grower at Brockton, who had fifteen acres of vineyard, 

 in one season made over $1,500 from his crop. 



These and other inducements led many people to begin the 

 grape business, and just about ten years ago there was a boom 

 in the Chautauqua belt. The price of good grape land sud- 

 denly advanced from $50.00 an acre to $15000, and some of it 

 could not be bought for less than $200 00 an acre. Farmers 

 who did not make a specialty of grapes had small vineyards of 

 five, ten or fifteen acres. Those who made grapes their chief 

 crop often had from forty to fifty acres of vines. There are 

 several vinevards in the Chautauqua belt of from fifty to one 

 hundred acres. One of the most extensive is that of Garret 

 Ryckman, at Brockton, New York, consisting of over one hun- 

 dred acres. The vineyards of R. J. Quale and of the Hanover 

 Grape Company, at Silver Creek, are each about one hundred 

 and ten acres in extent. 



For some years every one believed thoroughly in grapes. 

 There had been no seasons of failure of the crop, and prices 

 were high. Meanwhile, new vineyards were coming into 

 bearing at the rate of about one thousand acres a year. Else- 

 where the acreage of grape land had also increased in the state, 

 especially in theHudson River and the Lake Keuka districts. 

 The result was that the markets of New York, Boston and 



Philadelphia were flooded with grapes. Then came poor 

 yields, together with low prices, and many persons have be- 

 come discouraged and have abandoned the unprofitable busi- 

 ness. This year, with the disastrous freeze in May, will be 

 remembered as one of the worst in the history of grape-grow- 

 ing in the Chautauqua belt. The grape growers suiter from 

 many evils, but principally from overproduction. There is 

 now a surplus of grapes in the market. Almost every week 

 during the shipping season the markets of the large cities 

 break under the pressure, and grapes are often sold at prices 

 that do not much more than cover the commissions and 

 freight. 



In good seasons the annual yield of the Chautaucjua vineyards 

 is about 15,000 tons, or 30,000,000 pounds of table grapes. To 

 ship this immense crop to market requires about 2,000 cars, 

 and each car holds about 2,500 baskets. The fruit is about 

 equally distributed between eastern and western markets, 

 although during the past three or four years many new mar- 

 kets for New York grapes have been opened in the far west, 

 so that the Chautauqua growers now send their grapes to 

 Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Omaha, Kansas City, Denver, 

 Minneapolis, St. Paul, and even to Winnipeg, Manitoba. 

 About seventy-five per cent, of the crop is handled by the 

 Chautauqua and Northeast Grape Union, at Brockton. This 

 Lhiion is an organization of the growers of the different sec- 

 tions of the belt. One of the principal objects of the Union is 

 to market the fruit of the members directly, thus saving the 

 commission dealer's profits, and at the same time to have 

 quick returns and prompt distribution of the proceeds of sales. 

 The grapes are graded according to quality, and every ship- 

 ment is inspected before it is sent to market. The grower is 

 required to place his name, together with the mark of the 

 Union on every basket, and in this way unripe or poorly 

 packed fruit can be traced back to the offender. 



The crop is marketed on the cooperative or pooling system. 

 Shipments along the entire belt are pooled daily and weekly, 

 and checks are promptly sent to each grower for his pro rata 

 share. Thus, the fruit is marketed at less cost and at less 

 trouble than would be possible by individuals. The grower 

 is relieved of looking after his shippings, sales and collections. 

 The LTnion has a large number of traveling salesmen in all 

 the principal markets, and its representatives keep the head 

 office posted continually as to the supply and the prices of 

 grapes at different points. 



The bulk of the Chautauqua grape crop is of the Concord 

 variety. The location does not seem suited to the ripening of 

 such late varieties as the Catawba. The shipping season be- 

 gins about the first week in September, and is practically over 

 after Thanksgiving, or about the first of December. This 

 gives the Chautauqua grower a much shorter range of season 

 than the Lake Keuka grower, who supplies the market with 

 grapes until March or April. 



Several systems of training vines are in vogue in the Chau- 

 tauqua Grape belt. Some favor the Kniffen system, but the 

 majority of growers use the fan system. In the first year 

 the vines are cut back to three or four buds ; in the second 

 year they are cut back to five or six buds, and three of 

 the strongest shoots of new growth are left for the bearing 

 arms of the third year. The best two canes are then tied to 

 the wire, and after th.at each year two or three of the best new 

 canes are trained on the trellis in fan shape. _, 



New York. L. J. VilHCe. 



The Lily, Melpomene. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — On page 427 of your issue for October 23d, Mr. Orpet 

 says: " The kind we have always regarded as the best dark 

 form is known in trade-lists as Melpomene. This is a native 

 of Japan, and in no way connected with the kind raised by the 

 late C. M. Hovey, of Boston, which was a hybrid between 

 Lilium auratum and L. speciosum." This can hardly be cor- 

 rect, since L. auratum was not introduced from Japan until 

 i860, while Mr. Hovey, who was very successful in raising 

 L. speciosum from seed, showed at the Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultural Society's exhibition in 1853 nine seedlings which he 

 named after the Muses, Melpomene being of the number. 

 This is the only one of the nine now in existence, the others 

 having dropped out because they did not possess characters 

 sufficiently distinct to be noticed by the ordinary observer. 

 That Hovey 's Melpomene is identical with what Mr. Orpet 

 considers the best species from Japan, I have always believed, 

 but it is entirely different from the cross between L. auratum 

 and L. speciosum, which was not produced until about 1870. 



Floral Parlt, N. Y. C. L. Allen. 



