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Growing Fancy Grapes for Local Markets—By S. W. Fletcher, * 
Mich- 
HOW A GRAPE GROWER NEAR GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, MAKES A GOOD LIVING FROM LAND THAT 
COST HIM $250 AN ACRE—CAN YOU NOT ADOPT SOME OF THESE IDEAS TO YOUR OWN CONDITIONS? 
(Nore. 
the South. 
than ordinary success has been achieved in ordinary circumstances.| 
CCORDING to the last United States 
census, the average fruit farm of the 
country returns approximately 9 per cent. 
interest on the investment. This percentage 
would satisfy even some of our able finan- 
ciers and shows that the business is a paying 
one when handled rightly. But there are as 
many failures in fruit growing as in any 
other business, and these pull down the 
average. Some fruit growers make more 
than 9 per cent. from their investment, some 
but 3 or 4 per cent., some even less. There 
is, of course, an element of chance in the 
business, for the fruit growers deal with the 
physical conditions of soil and climate which 
are unstable, and with labor and markets 
which are fluctuating; but on the whole, this 
element of ‘‘luck” is very small compared 
with the almost unfailing regularity with 
which success follows energy, skill, and 
judgment, especially the latter. 
It is not luck, but hard work and good 
judgment that have brought success some- 
what above the average to Mr. W. K. Mun- 
son, a fruit grower near Grand Rapids, 
Michigan. His good judgment was shown 
most of all in his selection of a location and 
in his recognition of the type of fruit grow- 
ing that would pay best there. When Mr. 
Munson came to Michigan from New York, 
fourteen years ago, he saw the possibilities 
of developing the local market of Grand 
Rapids, and bought his farm and planted 
it with the distinct and definite purpose of 
catering to that local market. 
“Vinecroft”—most suggestive and appe- 
tizing name—is a small hillside farm three 
miles from the city market of Grand Rapids 
and one-half mile outside the city limits. 
Being so near the city, it was an expensive 
farm to buy; Mr. Munson paid $250 an 
acre for it fifteen years ago. That is a good 
deal of capital to tie up in an acre of land, 
and it was evident to Mr. Munson that this 
land would have to be devoted to some spe- 
cial crop in order to returna profitable inter- 
est. Grapes were selected because the soil 
and site were favorable, and because he 
thought the near-by market would pay well 
for fancy grapes. If this same farm had 
been planted to peaches or apples, or straw- 
berries, possibly this story of a successful 
fruit grower would not have been written. 
But grapes were the best crop for that hillside, 
and the best crop for that near-by market 
—so I repeat that Mr. Munson’s success is 
due as much to good judgment as to cultural 
skill and hard work. 
The twenty acres of grapes on this small, 
yet profitable, suburban farm, are on a high 
gentle slope to the east and north, with lower 
land all about, thus giving the air drainage 
that prevents injury by late spring and early 
fall frosts. There is here no large body of 
water to temper the climate, as in most of 
our famous grape regions, for the influence 
of Lake Michigan is much reduced at this 
inland point, thirty miles away. So there 
is especial need of securing a high, back- 
ward site for such an impressionable fruit 
as the grape. The soil, a strong clay loam, 
is heavier than most grape growers prefer. 
I found Mr. Munson in his vineyard one 
bright September morning, when the frost 
in the air gave zest to the work of some ten 
or twelve pickers whom he was superintend- 
ing. The pickers were all women. He 
keeps five men to do all the lugging and 
lifting, and eight to fifteen women during 
the picking season, which lasts from six to 
seven weeks. 
King (lower bunches), a bud sport from Concord 
The packing is done in the field. Each 
picker has a stand holding four boxes at 
waist height, with an empty box hung. on 
each of the four corners. The four boxes 
are packed simultaneously; a bunch that 
will not fit into one box will surely find a 
place in one of the other three. 
Strolling through the vineyard I remarked 
upon the thick green carpet of crimson 
clover between all the rows. ‘“ That,” re- 
plied Mr. Munson, “is my method of keeping 
the rich soil of my hillside from washing 
away, as it did before I began to use cover 
crops. My tillage programme begins as early 
in the spring as I can get upon the land, 
using a three-share gang plow, and turn- 
ing the furrows towards the centre. I go 
one bout each way, plowing three or four 
18 
This is the first of a series of real stories of personal success in farming — mostly fruit growing and market gardening in the Middle West, but not neglecting 
These will not be hackneyed stories of those spectacular successes involving huge capital or unique conditions. 
On the contrary, they will show how a little better 
inches deep. Then I follow witha one-horse 
plow and take off two furrows. After this 
I cultivate with a mold-board toothed culti- 
vator that stirs the ground very shallowly. 
This can be worked in and out among the 
vines and I find it a much more satisfactory 
method of keeping weeds out from beneath 
the vines than the set-over grape plow or 
horse hoe that some growers use.” 
“T know from fifteen years’ experience on 
this farm that it pays me to cultivate at least 
once in eight to ten days, whether the land 
is weedy or not, and after every rain. When 
the ground is in good condition, especially 
during a dry spell, I discard the cultivator 
and use a home-made weeder. I cultivate 
perfectly clean until the middle of August 
and then sow crimson clover between rows, 
leaving a seeded strip two feet wide 
under each row. ‘This is usually six inches 
high when it is turned under in the spring. 
It not only keeps the soil from washing, but 
also holds all leaves when they drop, and 
these are a great help to the soil when plowed 
under.” 
“But are you not afraid that plowing 
under crimson clover every year will give 
too much nitrogen to the vines and force 
them to an over-vigorous growth?” 
“T have never observed any ill effects, 
and I know that my vines suffer far less 
from drought since I began the practice. 
“Besides cultivator teeth and crimson 
clover, I use unleached wood ashes. They 
are the best fertilizer for my clay soil, espe- 
cially since I use so much humus. I used 
2,500 bushels last year on my twenty acres 
of grapes. During the first three years I 
manure the vines heavily with stable manure, 
so as to get them up on the wires as soon 
as possible. After that I used no manure, 
but ashes, cover crops, and tillage. lama 
great believer in frequent shallow tillage.” 
When one is catering to a local market, 
it usually pays to have more varieties than 
if growing fruit for the general market. Mr. 
Munson’s present planting is as follows: 
600 Moore’s Early, 400 Campbell’s Early, 
4co Winchell or Green Mountain, 2,000 
Worden, 2,500 Concord, 1,000 King, 1,000 
Delaware, 1,200 Niagara. There are smaller 
plantings of other sorts, but these have been 
the standards. 
Following are Mr. Munson’s comments 
on varieties: 
““Moore’s Early has been one of my money- 
makers. Last year I got $300, gross, from 
600 vines. The bunches of Brighton and. 
Campbell’s fill out poorly; I presume it is 
partly due to lack of cross pollination, al- 
though they are near other varieties. I 
pulled out five rows of Brighton last year 
