THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROT^TERS^ CONVENTION. 



37 



juice business that is so profitable to her that she wouldn't sell it at 

 any price. Mr. S. H. Taft is here, and I am sure you will all be giad 

 to hear from him on this subject. 



MR. S. H. TAFT. I have a grape which is known as the California 

 Concord. Eight years ago I found this grape, and found it different 

 and superior in my judgment to anything that I had tried. I learned 

 that it was sent down from the north with six or eight Isabellas. I 

 investigated to see if this was true and found that it was. This vine 

 had very much larger leaves and a more vigorous stock than the 

 Isabella, and the fruit was somewhat larger — not so very much, but 

 larger. I tried to buy the vine, but could not; and I got some of the 

 cuttings, and from those cuttings I commenced to develop the vines, 

 so that for a few years past I have been selling them wholesale and 

 retail. I will say in regard to the leaf that it is very large. You will 

 jSnd some of them in the Chamber of Commerce. I took some there 

 that measured 14 inches across: I took some there later that measured 

 18 inches across. It is utterly immune to this disease that has swept 

 the grapes all over the country. There is never a sign of it. Its vigor 

 seems to give it entire protection. I call it the California Concord. 



PRESIDENT JEFFREY. :\Ir. Taft. who is our ^-uest to-day. is one 

 of our oldest citizens, and this grape that he is telling about has meas- 

 ured 18 inches in diameter in the leaves, and the grapes are nearly as 

 large as olives. It has exactly the tiavor of the Concord. It is grown 

 at Santa ]Monica and is very free from disease. Whether it would be 

 a good commercial variety or not, we don't know. If Mr. Taft has got 

 a grape which will succeed anywhere and everywhere, we will all be 

 very glad to know it. Mr. Taft does not claim to have created this 

 variety, but he claims to have developed it and brought it out. It is 

 a remarkable grape in itself. Whether it will be a good variety to 

 plant or not, we don't know. 



MR. JAMES MILLS. Mr. Roeding, what demand is there for a 

 table grape ? To what production can the table grape be increased in 

 this southern country and yet give a favorable j-eturn on the capital 

 invested ? 



]\IR. ROEDING. As I said, I have given most of my time to the 

 nursery business. But bear in mind that there is another large interest 

 outside of the wine industry in this State, and that not only pertains 

 to the table grape, but to the raisin grape as well. You must have some 

 realization of the development of the raisin grape business when I tell 

 you that' the production last year was between sixty and seventy 

 thousand tons in this State. The table grapes shipped, if I remember 

 correctly — I am subject to correction in this — amounted to something 

 like 8.000 carloads last year. With these facts before you, it is not 

 necessary to believe that the industry of grape growing in this State 

 is going into the ground because the wine business is not in the posi- 

 tion that it was a few years ago. There has been a very extensive 

 planting of raisin grapes — more during the past season than of table 



