FEBRUARY, 1908 
A bunch will always fitinto one of the four basKets 
and set Concord. My Niagaras have not 
paid during the last five years. Moore’s 
Early, Worden, Concord, Delaware, and 
King are my winners.” 
The ‘ King” grape is the pride of Mr. 
Munson’s heart, for he originated it himself. 
That is, he originated it as much as men 
usually “ originate”’ varieties. Nature pro- 
duces a variation, some man sees it, is shrewd 
enough to recognize that it has commercial 
value, and so selects and propagates it. 
In 1892 Mr. Munson’s attention was called 
to a vine in a block of 2,000 Concords. 
Next year Mr. Munson looked up that vine, 
decided that it bore grapes different from 
and superior to Concord, which it was sup- 
posed to be. So he whip-grafted 100 two- 
year old Concord vines with cions taken 
from this vine, and then waited until 1896, 
when these vines came into bearing. That 
first crop convinced him that he had an 
acquisition. He took cuttings, raised 800 
vines, and set all of them himself. When 
these vines had borne, the value of the 
variety was demonstrated beyond doubt. 
A committee of the State Horticultural 
Society, reporting on this grape, said that 
it is “more vigorous and prolific than the 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
Concord, time of ripening and length of 
season the same, clusters one-fourth longer, 
flavor nearly the same, but more sprightly 
a valuable acquisition, a worthy off- 
spring of its parent, the Concord,” from 
which it is evidently a bud sport. The 
superiority of the King over the Concord in 
the size of bunch and berry is shown in the 
figure on page 18. On the Grand Rapids 
Market, when Concord sells for eight to ten 
cents per four-pound pony basket (holding 
about three pounds of grapes) King sells for 
fifteen cents per basket all the season. I 
can appreciate the pride of Mr. Munson in 
the variety that has been developed at Vine- 
croft Farm. 
Many grape growers in Southwestern 
Michigan have been losing heavily from 
black and other rots. I asked Mr. Munson 
to relate his experience for fighting the ene- 
mies of fruits. He said, “I attribute my 
comparative freedom from pests partly to 
early plowing, which puts the diseased leaves, 
fruits, etc., out of the way. I begin to spray 
when the new growth is a foot long, and 
spray four times, using one-half pound of 
Paris green and a pailful of tobacco juice 
to each 100 gallons of Bordeaux. I throw 
a bushel or two of tobacco stems into a bar- 
rel of water and let them stand there for a 
few days before drawing off the liquor. Black 
rot has not troubled me except on Niagaras, 
which sometimes begin to rot a few days 
before they are due to ripen. The leaf- 
hoppers have bothered some, but the tobacco 
juice fixes them.” 
Mr. Munson uses a sprayer deriving its 
power from a gear attached to the wheels. 
One man drives and watches the indicator. 
Two other men follow, with a lead of hose 
apiece. Vermorel nozzles are used and all 
the spray is shot underneath the foliage. 
“Never spray from the top,” said Mr. Mun- 
son, “and never spray until the leaves drip.” 
The machine costs $75, and is run at a pres- 
sure of fifty to eighty pounds. On an aver- 
age twenty-two gallons of spray are applied 
to each row of 125 vines, the vines being set 
eight feet apart in the rows and ten feet 
between rows. 
The system of training followed at Vine- 
croft Farm is the Kniffen, with occasional 
renewal. The first year after planting, 
Clean tillage:the ground is stirred every weeK 
poor canes are nipped back and growth 
thrown into the one that is strongest. At 
the end of the second year, this cane is at 
the top wire. Four bearing canes are started 
out the third year, two on each wire, 
running each way. ‘Thereafter the Kniffen 
system is followed, renewing clear back to 
the main stem whenever there is a good 
chance. The canes of two adjoining vines 
are never allowed to pass each other. ‘The 
only summer pruning is to cut off with the 
sickle canes that trail upon the ground. 
There is this difference between the grapes 
from Vinecroft Farm and the grapes of many 
other growers. Vinecroft grapes are sold 
beforehand; the others are begging for pur- 
chasers and may or may not be sold at a 
profit. The intrinsic merit of the fruit and 
tasty packing, as well as shrewd advertising, 
have made the difference. All Laskets of Vine- 
croft grapes have an attractive and unique 
label, and no state fair is complete without 
a table of “Grapes from Vinecroft Farm.” 
The point to this article is found in the 
success that a fruit grower has made on a 
small farm, catering to a high class trade in 
a near-by city. Mr. Munson tells me that 
in a series of years he averages $175 an acre 
from his grapes, etc. 
Crimson clover sown about August 1st is plowed under in early spring 
Carrots between young vines which are heavily manured the first hree years 
