PROSPECTS AND PROBLEMS FOR THE GRAPE-GROWER. 



HANDLING \-INE 

 N L E S S fortune's wheel makes a 

 sudden and unfavorable turn, we 

 may expect a large crop of grapes 

 this season ; the supply seems as- 

 sured. But what will be the de- 

 mand ? How can good markets 

 and good returns be insured ? Are 

 we in immediate danger of over- 

 production ? Will continued heavy 

 planting for commercial purposes be safe and advisable ? 

 Practical grape-growers express their views on these im- 

 portant questions in the following communications : 



HOW CAN WE INSURE PROPEll HANDLING AND DISTRIBUTION? 



The present outlook fbr a full crop of grapes of good 

 quality is unusually promising on the shores of lakes 

 Keuka, Seneca and Canandaigua. The growth has been 

 very rapid of late, and although there is some mildew in 

 some localities, and signs of black-rot and other diseases 

 of the vine, favorable and comparatively dry weather 

 from this time onward till September would seem to in- 

 sure a fine crop of grapes. The great (prospective) short- 

 age in the general fruit-crops of the country for this 

 season, especially of peaches, in Maryland, Delaware and 

 New Jersey, gives promise of good prices for grapes dur- 

 ing autumn. 



I do not think there is any immediate and but little 

 future danger of overproduction in grapes. There are 

 not now, and probably will not be in average fruit-years, 

 more grapes produced in this or any other portion of the 

 country than will be needed for table and wine-making 

 purposes, if they can only be properly handled and distri- 

 buted. But how to insure such handling, distribution 

 and sale as will make the most of annual crops, is a com- 

 plex problem not yet fully solved. I cannot advise con- 

 tinued heavy planting of grape-vines for general commer- 

 ci:-l purposes until we can solve this problem and reduce 

 marketing to a more perfect system, but would advise a 

 more careful culture of existing vineyards. Under no 

 circumstances should they be neglected because prices 

 are temporarily depressed. All bearing vineyards of good 

 standard varieties have cost too much to be abandoned, 

 or depreciated in value as a consequence of neglectful 

 culture ; and they can be perpetuated in good condition 

 much cheaper than new ones can be started. 



Grapes should be nicely packed and marketed in neat 

 5 and lo-pound "Climax" baskets. Pack them with 

 care, allowing none but good, choice, ripe and well-graded 

 fruit to go in any package, and sending all that is inferior 

 in appearance as well as in fact to the wine-cellar. I 

 believe the time will come, and the sooner the better, 

 when a uniform size of package will be used, and that it 

 will be a y-pound Climax basket. 



YARD PRODUCTS. 



Grape-growers should ship to all places th it promise a 

 good demand for their fruit, and commence shipping just 

 as soon as (and not a day before) the variety to be marketed 

 is really ripe and sweet enough to be palatable, and eagerly 

 sought for table uses. Sour or imperfectly-ripened grapes 

 tend directly to disgust the public taste and to quickly 

 break down the markets beyond any chance of more than 

 a partial recovery during the remainder of the season. 

 The practice of shipping such grapes does incalculable 

 injury every year to the grape-producing interests of 

 central and western New York. 



The best way to get full and fair returns from commis- 

 sion-men is to ship only to honest ones of good and well- 

 established repute, whose business cards are found in 

 reputable horticultural journals. —J, H. Butler, Edilor 

 of Viiieyardist . 



EXTENSIVE PLANTING NOT SAFE. 



I am by no means sure that the continued heavy plant- 

 ing of the grape will prove to be a safe commercial ven- 

 ture. It is, doubtless, true that the consumption of this 

 fruit in a fresh condition is increasing at a rapid rate, 

 and it may reasonably be anticipated that such consump- 

 tion will continue to increase. On the other hand, public 

 sentiment grows stronger and stronger against wine- 

 making, and this seems likely to diminish the demand 

 for grapes for such purposes. 



The grape can be, and is, successfully and profitably 

 grown much farther north than any of the tree-fruits, 

 since by laying down and covering the vines they can be 

 carried safely through the severest winter cold. With 

 judicious selection of a vineyard site, many of even the 

 late-ripening varieties mature with nearly or quite the 

 same certainty as farther south. As a case in point, a 

 fine collection of well-ripened grapes, grown in southern- 

 central Minnesota, was shown at the New Orleans Ex- 

 position during the winter of 1875. Among them were 

 perfectly ripe Catawbas which, even in southern Michi- 

 gan and northern Ohio, ripen thoroughly only in excep- 

 tionally favorable seasons or in protected or sheltered 

 localities. A subsequent visit to the vineyard in which 

 these specimens were grown revealed the fact that their 

 maturity was due to the training of the vines upon a low 

 trellis with a southern slope and exposure. The vines 

 were covered with earth in winter. 



At the date of our visit (the last of August) the medium 

 varieties — Delaware, Eumelan and several others — were 

 already in use for dessert, and ripe (?) Minnetonka-grown 

 Concords were plentifully offered in Minneapolis mar- 

 kets. It is probable that the result stated may also have 

 been partially due to the increased length of the day in 

 higher latitudes, accompanied as it is, at the west espe- 

 cially, by an increased proportion of sunlight and warmth 



