(;rape 



Market iiHi inid Profits . -The crop is raostlv marketed 

 fresh iu the local or iic-ar-by markets, as the ordinarr 

 freight and express rates will not permit profitable re- 

 turns on the varieties mostly grown. But it has been 

 demonstrated that flue Grapes that will carry well can 

 easily be grown in the South, and, when liauil'led in best 

 manner iu neat liaskets, are i|Uite profitable. 



There are a few established wineries in the .South, 

 which use Ives, Norton Virginia, Hcrbemont, LeNoir! 

 and some of the Scuppernong and other Muscadine va- 

 rieties. The chief ciimplaint of wine-growers is that 

 legislation brought about by the prohibition movement is 

 adverse and often entirely prohibitive. In consequence, 

 some have bottled the juice fresh under some sterilizinii 

 process, but the people are not yet educated up to the 

 use of this excellent, healtliful, nourishini; beverage, 

 yet the demand for it is growing, ami may be largelv 

 increased by enterprising makers. 



Reports collected fromall parts of the South state the 

 profits all the way from nothins; up to 1*L"0 per acre, 

 sometimes higher, and it is clearly eviilent that the in- 

 telligence and enterprise of the planter is the chief ele- 

 ment in controlling profits. Of course, localities, soils 

 and varieties play important parts, but an intelligent 

 grower would not select poor locality, sitnatiim, soil and 

 varieties to start with, just as he would not pursue poor 

 methods in the conduct of the business. As an illustra- 

 tion, the writer knows perst^ns who liring to the Denison 

 I Tex. ] market, a place of 20,000 population, Ives and Per- 

 kins Grapes in bushel baskets, getting, by hard work, 

 about one cent a pound, while others bring in neat y- 

 pound baskets, carefully packed, Delaware, Brilliant, 

 Diamond, Niagara, Rommel and others of like good 

 qualities, and get from 30 to 50 cents per basket the 

 season through, with brisk sales and no grumbling. 



It maybe said, in conclusion, that the South prcimises 

 everything to the wide-awake, intelligent Grajie-grower, 

 for its capabilities are unlimited in the production in 

 quality and season when no other section competes 

 with it, and it has vast markets at lu)nie and iu the 

 great cities just north of it. T. V. .'Mrxsos-. 



Grapes on the Pacific Slope. -The Grape industries of 

 California are established upL'u the success of the vinif- 

 era species. There are two wild species in the state, 

 \'itis Californira and V. Arizoiica, hut by a p'.>pular 

 error the term California Grape has been often iised to 

 indicate the Mission Grape, whicli was introduced from 

 their earlier establishments in Lower California by the 

 p.adres, who entered the territory now comjn'ised in the 

 state of Califi.trnia in 1769, to extend their missionary 

 work among the aborigines. This iMission Grape has 

 never been fully identified with any variety now grown 

 in Europe, and whether the padres broui^ht it to America 

 in the form of seeds or cuttings is not known. The dif- 

 ficulty in identifying it has led many to consider it a 

 seedling, but it is just as reasonaltle to h-dd that it \vas, 

 two hundred years ago, an esteemed variety ^^hich was 

 displaced in the course of viticultural progress by better 

 varieties, and its survival at the California Missi(.tns is 

 due to its isolation from that progress. It was this Grape 

 which was fomul in California by the early American 

 settlers, and very large areas of it were planted, but for 

 the last thirty years it has decreased in favor rapidly, 

 being displaced bymany other varieties of su|)erior value 

 for various purposes. These varieties are abiiost wholly 

 of the vinifera species. The native American varieties 

 and their improved offspring thrive iu California when 

 given suital>Ie situation and culture, but they do nrit 

 meet any encouraging market demand. A very few pack- 

 ages glut the San Fraticisco market for their kind, while 

 the vinifera table varieties are selling in large quanti- 

 ties. Only a few individuals give any consideration to 

 ,\tuerican varieties for wine, and none of them are suited 

 for raisins. The only attention given to the American 

 species is in the use of some of them as phylhtxera-resis- 

 tant roots, upon which to graft the vinifera varieties, as 

 is done in France; and California experience is a close 

 reproduction of French results in this circumvention of 

 the insect. It seems ]">ro].->able, although some districts 

 are still free from invasion, that in the end all our vinif- 

 era vineyards will be ttjion American roots. 



Grape-growing upon a large scale began in California 

 verv soon after the American occupation. In the fifties. 



GRAPE 



677 



collections of the leading E\iropean varieties were intro- 

 duced, and state aid was secured for the promotion of 

 viticulture. The first raisins were shown in 18i)3, and a 

 considerable wine product was attained soon after, but 

 the sale of it was attended bymany disappointments, and 

 discouragement ensued. In the latter seventies the wim- 

 interest was revived by better demand for the product, 

 and a new propaganda for extension on better lines and 

 with more suitable methods and better varieties, was 

 earnestly taken up. Again the .state granted funds liber- 

 ally, and the agitation resulted in vine planting and 

 cellar construction iu the valleys and foothills alf over 

 the state. The prociuct increased more rai)idly than the 

 demand for it. and the quality of much of it was success- 



%!/^ 





974. The common short-pnjnine system used for the 

 Vinifera Grape in California. 



fully inipt-iu-liiMl. Lii^se;-- and disappointments wer« 

 ai;:ain encounti.-rii-d. ami the area of wiue Grapes was 

 largely reduecd hy alKindonnient, by tbo advancenient 

 of the phylloxrra ;uid l)y tlie inroads of a peonliar dis- 

 ease wliii'h has ball It'll effort to dt.'tei'mine its cause. 

 though thon.-^ands of acres have been s^Yc■]>t away by it. 

 Even the lessened wine product found most acute trade 

 issues to meet, which were temporarily overcome h} 

 growers* cooperative effort until the constantly shrinking 

 production met an advancing demand, and protitabh' 

 prices for wine Grapes were again secured. This fact 

 has again stimulated interest in planting, even with 

 the greater investment required by resistant roots, and 

 the century closes with a renewal of contidence which 

 bids fair to again extend the wine industry of the state. 



The raisin interest of the state did not attract wide 

 attention tmtil about 187o, but it advanced with grt^at 

 rapidity until 1894-, when a product of 10:i million pounds 

 was reached and a decline of value below the cost of 

 ]troduction ensued. As events have proved, this decline 

 was largely due to lack of proper system iu marketing, 

 for a period of loss and depression has been followed by 

 return to prices yielding a profit through control of tht- 

 marketing by a coo]>crative association of the growers. 

 This experience came just in time to save the raisin 

 interest from large sacriliees. and points the way to 

 future nuiintenauce. The shipping of table Grapes from 

 California to the markets of the eastern states has 

 reached an aggregate of about a thousand car loads on 

 several different years, and is one of the fixed features 

 of overland fruit shipment. The area of Grapes in Cali- 

 fornia in ll'dO is aI>out 140.000 acres: one-seventh tabh- 

 Grapes, two-sevenths raisin Grapes and four-sevenths 

 wine Grapes, as nearly as can be estimated. 



The Graj>e has a wider range of adaptation in Cali- 

 f.-.rnia than any other single fruit. It endures all eleva- 

 tions to which commercial fruit-gi"owin,g is carried: it 

 thriv(.'S in the most intense valley heat if amply supplied 

 with water by irrigation. It accepts all fertile soils, but 

 is most protitable upon light, deep, wanu loams, both 

 in the valleys and on the hillsides. All varieties which 

 will bear well with such treatment are grown with low 

 stumi's and very short pnining, which discards nearly 

 all of the previous season's growth. Only a few varieties 

 are given longer canes and the support of a wire or a 

 high '^take. 



