558 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 196. 



Cultural Department. 



The Grape Crop. 



THE grape harvest of 1891 will long be remembered for its 

 abundance and low prices, which was, doubtless, materi- 

 ally diminished by the superabundance of peaches in market. 

 Hereabout, however, the volume of the grape crop was not 

 as large in the aggregate as in previous seasons, though the 

 quality was quite up to the average. The vines and fruit were 

 exceptionally free from fungal diseases, and where fungicides 

 were seasonably applied very little rot developed at any time 

 during the season, while mildew was not observed till late in 

 August. This unusual healthy condition might be attributed 

 to the judicious use of remedies during this and previous 

 seasons were it not for the fact that vines which had never 

 been treated heretofore carried as fine and healthy fruit and 

 foliage as others. The true reason for this exemption from dis- 

 ease is, doubtless, that the season was unfavorable to the 

 growth of fungi. To certain conditions of the season may also 

 be due the imperfect pollination and poor setting of the fruit, 

 which helped to diminish the crop. 



The cause for this imperfect setting is not easily determined. 

 Conditions of temperature and moisture seemed favorable, as 

 far as we could judge, but buds started unevenly, and clusters 

 were much smaller than usual; yet some few varieties were 

 not affected in this way, and exceeded all past experience, not- 

 ably the Lindley (Rogers' Number 9), generally a poor setter, 

 but this season producing the largest and finest clusters I have 

 ever grown. 



A severe drought prevailed in this section all summer. With 

 two exceptions, up to late in August our showers had merely 

 laid the dust, and this, too, may have helped to cause imper- 

 fect setting ; and yet the growth of vines was strong, yielding 

 an abundance of well-ripened wood. 



Just after the seeds had hardened and the development of 

 the fruit took place rains came for a few days, and this sudden 

 addition of moisture forced a growth of pulp which seemed too 

 rapid for the growth of the skin, and the consequent bursting 

 caused great loss. This inability of the skin to grow as fast as 

 the pulp, or lack of strength to hold its expanding contents, is 

 a fatal defect in many otherwise excellent varieties. Tough- 

 ness of skin and a tight hold on the peduncle are two invalu- 

 able requisites for any grape. No matter how good it may be 

 in other respects, weakness in either of these points is fatal. 

 The critical period, when these weaknesses are apparent, 

 varies with different kinds and varies in different seasons. 

 This enables a variety to pass through a sudden excess of 

 moisture at one time or season with safety, when it would fail 

 if this moisture occurred a few days earlier or later. This 

 seems to explain why some varieties crack badly one season 

 and not another. Among the varieties that cracked badly this 

 season were the following, and I add to each the percentage 

 of loss from this cause : Moore's Early, fifty per cent. ; Worden, 

 fifteen per cent.; Duchess, forty per cent.; Brant, fifty per 

 cent.; Canada, fifty per cent.;- Cambridge, ten per cent; Lady, 

 twenty-five per "cent.; Salem, seventy-five per cent.; Massa- 

 soit, seventy-five per cent.; Concord, twenty per cent.; Jeffer- 

 son, forty per cent.; Packlington, twenty-five per cent.; and 

 Woodruff Red, twenty-five per cent. 



Notwithstanding the troubles which beset the vineyards in 

 this section, the yield throughout the country was immense, 

 our markets were glutted, and prices ruled lower than ever. 

 A correspondent in southern New Jersey informs me that he 

 shipped half a ton of fine grapes to New York, in ten-pound 

 baskets. The returns were, "Sold for ten cents a basket." 

 Of course he did not need the advice to "Forward no more," 

 which accompanied the return. And yet the wise counsellors 

 who are writing about the causes of agricultural depression 

 are constantly advising farmers to plant vineyards and or- 

 chards. I have often wished that some of these glib writers 

 would go into commercial fruit-growing and teach us how to 

 get rich. A few seasons like the past would dissipate the 

 dreams of certain and immense profits. The situation was 

 bad enough even before the stupid action of the New York 

 Board of Health still further depressed prices. The newspa- 

 pers reported that arsenic had been used by vine-dressers to 

 suppress phylloxera. They had heard of copper sulphate and 

 the rot, but Paris Green and the phylloxera looked more alarm- 

 ing in the head-lines. Still, this was quite as accurate as the 

 report of a city chemist who stated that the Grape rot was 

 caused by an insect. 



The hot dry weather of September brought to perfection 

 some varieties that are usually so late as to be classed among 

 the uncertain ones. Black Defiance, Catawba, Roger's 32, 



and Isabella were among them. The fruit of Isabella was 

 finer than I have grown for years. Of the newer varieties, 

 Empire State continues to disappoint ; Mover is no larger than 

 Delaware, and a feeble-growing vine ; Berckmans is far better 

 every way, except in size ; Green Mountain is early and good; 

 promises to be the best early white Grape. Colerain promises 

 to be its peer in every respect save earliness ; both vines are 

 good growers ; their weak points will develop in a year or 

 two's trial. The best of all the new varieties this season was 

 the Brilliant, originated by T. V. Munson, of Texas. This has 

 fruited with me for the third time, and this season developed 

 most excellent qualities. The vine is a good grower and ap- 

 pears hardy, but will suffer from mildew in bad seasons unless 

 protected by spraying. The clusters were medium to large, 

 berries the same, and the quality excellent. It is some satis- 

 faction to plant and care for Grapes of this class, but a great 

 many of the new introductions only tend to discouragement. 

 Our list of Grapes, like our list of all other fruits, is far too 

 long, and needs weeding out and pruning down. The proba- 

 tionary time of many new ones on trial is about up. 



What is needed to relieve this oppressed industry, so that 

 fruit-growers can realize a profit out of their investment equal 

 to the labor they employ, is increased consumption or dimin- 

 ished production or less profits to the middle-men. Notwith- 

 standing the low wholesale prices, from which the growers are 

 compelled to find their profits, if any, the retailers have gen- 

 erally exacted ten cents per pound from the consumer. This, 

 in many cases, represents a profit of 100 per cent, clear of all 

 expenses. It is evident that the profit in the business is in 

 fruit-selling and not in fruit-growing. 



The profits of fruit-growing are sure and certain when pur- 

 sued for one's own family consumption. No family ever sat- 

 isfies its natural longing for good fruit as thoroughly when 

 the fruit comes from the market as when it is furnished by 

 trees and vines on home grounds. And then there is the 

 added pleasure of watching its growth and the satisfaction 

 which comes from superior quality, with perfect ripeness and 

 assured freshness. w, 7 . 



Montclair, N.J. E. Williams. 



Fruits and Topography. 



T^HERE are a good many mysteries attendant upon the rela- 

 *- tions which plainly exist between the growth of tree-fruits 

 and the lay of the land. My experience and observation for 

 more than half a century, first in the Kennebec valley of 

 Maine, subsequently in the slightly elevated marine plain of 

 eastern Massachusetts, afterward in the Ohio and Mississippi 

 valleys, and later among the hills of north-eastern Vermont 

 and the valleys running northward to the St. Lawrence River, 

 have helped me to solve some of these mysteries. But there 

 is large room remaining for future investigations, especially as 

 regards special exposures ; the effect of winds in modifying 

 temperature ; the relation of soils and manures to the resist- 

 ance of trees against cold ; the action of the sun in winter ; the 

 protective effect of snow ; but, more than all else, the under- 

 standing of the rivers of the air in their downward flow. 



I have orchards on a level plain near to Lake Memphrema- 

 gog, on the east shore, and other younger orchards planted 

 upon my farm two miles east of the lake, not less than 200 feet 

 above it. Still other orchards, well cared for, are planted with 

 trees from my nurseries upon the west shore, at greater or 

 less distances from and above the water. All of these afford 

 opportunities for studying the effects of climate in a region 

 where twenty-five years ago it was firmly believed by its long- 

 time residents that Apple- culture was quite impracticable, ex- 

 cept for the Siberian Crabs and their seedlings. This unfavor- 

 able section extends south beyond the divide between the 

 St. Lawrence valley and the Connecticut as far as St. Johns- 

 bury ; east beyond the Connecticut across New Hampshire, 

 and some way into Maine ; west across the Green Mountains 

 nearly to Lake Champlain, and north to the immediate shores 

 of the St. Lawrence, where around and above Montreal to 

 Lakes Champlain and Ontario lies a region of somewhat milder 

 winter climate. 



The almost hardy varieties are those from which we can 

 learn the most on the question of climatic effects, and I was 

 early made aware that the location of my first orchards was 

 one requiring hardier trees than were demanded for the oppo- 

 site (western) shore and for the hills on both sides of the 

 lake. That on the immediate lake-shore we often escaped 

 light frosts in spring and fall, which struck sharply higher up, 

 was no evidence that winter's cold would not practically de- 

 stroy or prevent the profitable culture of a number of tree- 

 fruits there which did well at higher elevations. Among these 

 test-sorts are the Red Astrachan, Tolman Sweet and Pewaukee 



