swm: 
VOL. XXXII. No. 7. i 
WHOLE No. 1333. I 
NEW YORK, AND ROCHESTER, N. Y„ AUG. 14 , 1875 , 
1 PRICK eai^ CENTS. 
I »Z.«3 PER YEAR. 
[Entered according to Act ot Coneregs, in tlie year 1875, Dy the Kural Publishing ComDany, in the office of 
the Librarian of Congress at Washington.! 
THE VINEYARD3 OF WESTERN NEW 
YORK. 
The series of lakes which dot the map and 
beautif 3 7 the landscape of Western New York 
form delightful summer retreats for resi¬ 
dents of Eastern cities. Over their fair 
waters boats constantly ply, giving ample 
facilities for excursionists, while their vine- 
clad sides and picturesque gleng add attrac¬ 
tions both of art and nature nowhere to bo 
surpassed. It is of this section a* the natural 
home of the vino that we propose to speak 
now, although it would not be strange if this 
fact furnished the most influential of a'l mo¬ 
tives in directing the course of many thither¬ 
wards. These lakes, though not large, are 
generally deep, and their waters moderate 
the severity of the temperature, and post¬ 
pone frosts till several weeks later in the fall 
than in the surrounding country. Seneca 
Lake rarely freezes, and the past severe win¬ 
ter, 1S75, is the only time within the xnewory 
of man that an unbroken sheet of iee spread 
across its waters from shore to shore. The 
soil also is remarkably adapted to the grape. 
It i3 a natural stratum of great depth, afford 
iiig perfect drainage, and porous enough to 
hold what water is needed without excess. 
Of course such a soil is warm and “ quick,” 
and though not naturally rich, grape roots 
realily strike downward and find abundant 
material for perfecting luscious and beauti¬ 
ful crops of fruit. Before Its capacities for 
grape-growing were discovered farmers who 
owned these unknown mines of wealth made 
fair crops of wheat or corn from land which 
now, covered with vines in full bearing is 
worth one thousand to fifteen hundred dol¬ 
lars per acre. 
It is just twenty years ago that grape¬ 
growing on an extensive scale was begun in 
one of the chiefest and most beautiful of the 
lake valleys, the now well-known Pleasant 
Valley, on Lake Keuka, near the village of 
Hammondsport. It is around this lake, and 
especially in this valley, that grape culture 
made its most rapid progress, and it prob¬ 
ably yet leads all others, though hard pushed 
by later rivals in Vine Valley around Lake 
Canandaigua, the beautiful valleys of Naples 
at the head of Canandaigua Lake, and nu¬ 
merous other points of smaller importance, 
though scarcely less interesting aud attract¬ 
ive. The view which we present below 
shows the foot of Keuka Lake, extensive 
vineyards in the front, while two miles back 
nestles the village of H ia.mondsport, aud 
still further the vine-clad hills whose beauty 
no engraving can truly represent. The sum- 
mer vacations of our business men come all 
too early for the greatest enjoyment. A 
week's sojourn in the vineyards of Western 
New York in September, when the fruit is 
in season, rldlntr up and dow n the beautiful 
lakes, visiting Watkin's^Freer’s and other 
glens, will put new life into an over-worked 
man more than aught else we can prescribe. 
But if city folks will, or perhaps must, take 
thuir holiday in midsummer, cannot over¬ 
worked farmers, after the hurry of harvest 
is past, give themselves and their wives the 
pleasure and rest of such ail excursion during 
tlie most enjoyable season of the year ? One 
excellent result of such a visit would be sure 
to follow in the increased planting of grape 
vines at home. We need a more general 
culture of the grape by every private family 
in the country, and seeing the ease with 
which it is produced in largo quantities is 
one of the very best incentives to its cultiva¬ 
tion. 
At a meeting of the Western New York 
Horticultural Society, last winter, Judge La 
Roe, a leading grape-grower of Hammonds- 
port, estimated the export of grapes from 
Pleasant Valley and immediate vicinity at 
six thousand tons. Large quantities are 
used in the manufacture of wine, and con¬ 
siderable is eaten by the people in t he vicinity, 
though, of course, this is a trifle compared 
with the entire production. Lasi year was 
an unfortunate one for the Pleasant Valley 
grape growers, as the season was so late that 
grapes everywhere ripened, thus depriving 
tlie lake-grown grapes of their usual advan¬ 
tages. There was also a glut of small fruits 
through the season, and this greatly inter¬ 
fered with the sute of grapes. Still large 
quantities were shipped to New York and 
Philadelphia and brought fair prices. Ca- 
tawbus and Isabellas are the varieties most 
generally grown, though Iona and tne small 
but beautiful Delaware are produced to some 
extent. 
Iu Vine Valley, a delightful vale on the 
east side of Canandaigua Lake, extensive 
vineyards have been planted, and though 
much newer and younger than Pleasant Val¬ 
ley, it bids fair to surpass it in production, 
as it undoubtedly does in uatural advantages. 
No wines nor braudles are made here, but 
the entire product is marketed for food. 
There is a richness in the Catawba grape 
thoroughly ripened to be found in no other, 
aud nowhere can the Catawba be found in 
greater perfection than iu Vino Valley. The 
principal Vine Valley market last tear was 
found in New England, considerable quan¬ 
tities of grapes having been sent to Boston, 
and evou as far as Portland, Me. Besides 
the standard varieties well known In market, 
all tLO newer grapes are thoroughly tested 
here, and the lover of this fruit may visit 
Vine Valley with the certainty of seeing 
Specimens of every known variety ripening 
beneath as su ny skies and under as favor¬ 
able circumstances as can be found in this 
country or Europe. As showing the mod¬ 
eration of the climate, it is said that since 
its settlement peach trees in Vine Valley 
have never failed to produce a crop. The 
vine, however, has supplanted peach grow¬ 
ing, as grapes are far more profitable. With¬ 
in a few year? every available foot of this 
valley will have its grape viue, and the 
wealth which roust flow in from marketing 
suoh a crop must make its people the richest, 
as they surely should be the happiest, iu the 
world. 
- ■ --•+-+>+- --- — 
PROFIT FROM LOW-PRICED GRAPE8. 
It is probable that ti-e time for “ fancy” 
prices ana enormous profits iu grape growing 
has forever gone by. The Culture has ex¬ 
tended so rapidly that we shall never again 
see entire crops marketed at fifteen to twenty 
cents per pound and the fortunate grower 
reap a profit of $1200 to $151 >0 per acre. The 
grape is so easily grown that such prices 
cannot long be maintained, and lovers of this 
fruit may reasonably expect a supply at rates 
low enough for the consumer but giving a 
fair profit to the producer. Tlie great secret 
of success is ia selecting varieties that arc 
early enough to always ripen a crop and are 
always h rdy enough to withstand our se¬ 
vere winter. Aside from oiu* old stand by, 
the Concord, we can safely recommend the 
Salem, Delaware and Rogers 43 and 4. Any 
one of these cau bo produced by tno acre at 
a cost not exceeding two coiiLb per pound and 
sold and marketed at good profit at flvo 
cents. A friend of ours residing near Roch¬ 
ester sold and marketed Isabella grapes for 
four cents per pound and cleared considerably 
more than $100 per acre over all expense of 
cultivation and interest on value of the land. 
The only difficulty he experienced was that 
occasionally hi#crop wou.d not ripen and had 
to be sold at about two cents per pound for 
making vinegar. Even then it paid expenses 
and hb much profit as most farm crops. With 
varieties like Salem and others we have 
named above, there need be no difficulty in 
ripening a crop every year. 
