THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 



31 



my argument, and if I can just make you see it as I feel you ought, I 

 believe that the last and perhaps greatest menace to our industry would 

 be removed. 



In Europe, after the ph3dloxera had ravaged their wonderful vine- 

 yards, and they had found that as large if not larger crops could be 

 produced on their resistant vines, they immediately sought to increase 

 their output by sacrificing those forces which formerly gave them 

 quality for those that produce cjuantity. And what is the result? 

 The Italian papers just recently came out with an appeal for the 

 people to drink more w^ine so as to reduce the glut on the market. 

 And why this glut? This wine is quick aging, some or much of it 

 old at eighteen months, and is not fit for bottling, and there is too much 

 of it to attempt to blend with their fine bottling wines. Northern 

 Africa is developing into an immense wine-producing country, but of 

 this same low quality. So, if Europe is suffering from an overpro- 

 duction of low-grade whines, what can we, with our limited market for 

 such a product, expect by following in her wake ? This same principle 

 holds good, in a measure, for everything the land produces here in 

 California, but the result is not so manifest in an almond tree producing 

 only one crop in five years, as in a grape producing an abundance 

 of an unmarketable product annually. 



First, we are to consider whether our conditions will warrant the 

 planting of vines, then the variety and the method. I saw a query in 

 one of our horticultural papers the other da}^, the substance of which 

 was, ' ' What variety of vines shall I plant on a low, damp piece of land 

 subject to frost?" How could any one expect to raise any kind of 

 grapes under such conditions? Why try to raise grapes on land 

 adapted to water cress or late garden truck? We necessarily look 

 to our market as the criterion of our variet}^ The table grape shipper, 

 wine maker and raisin packer will readily inform us as to the quality 

 expected, and w^e can not discriminate between a Zinfanclel, with a low 

 or a high percentage of sugar, and a Tokay poorly colored or badly 

 packed. I know of no other rule or law completely covering these 

 vital points. The individual conditions must be looked into. There 

 are, however, some fundamental facts that we all know or should know^ 

 and as there is, just now, so much indiscriminate wine-grape planting, 

 it might be well to look at a case. 



The Zinfandel is a first class dry Avine grape in every respect, yet 

 to produce the ideal wine certain conditions must be adhered to. We 

 know that this grape does not ripen evenly if not on proper soil and 

 under proper conditions, or the quality of the grapes may vary widel}^ 

 For instance, in a place that I have in mind, the hillside produces a 

 medium sized bunch of firm, sweet, highly flavored grapes, with tough 

 skins, very little affected by mildeY\' or even a rain. About a hundred 

 yards away, in a rich silted flat, the vines produce enormously with 

 excessive foliage, large compact bunches of large grapes with thin 

 skins, lacking in sugar, very subject to mildew, and totally spoiled by 

 a light rain. 



Now, in pruning these vines, we must consider the quality of our 

 crop, and the conditions under which it is grown. If you prune 

 severely, leaving few spurs and buds, you will get a large growth and 

 a big second crop, a condition, therefore, advisable where you have 



