Vol. LXV. No. 2951 
NEW YORK, AUGUST 18, 1906 
WEEKLY. $1.00 PER YEAR. 
THE STORY OF A KENTUCKY VINEYARD. 
Grape Growing in a Trying Climate. 
“This song of mine 
Is a song of the Vine, 
To be sung by the glowing embers 
Of wayside inns, 
When the rain begins 
To darken the drear Novembers. 
And this song of the Vine, 
This greeting of mine. 
The winds and the birds shall deliver 
To the Queen of the West 
In her garlands dressed, 
On the banks of the Beautiful River ” 
—Longfellow. 
CINCINNATI EXPERIMENTS—The hospitality 
of Nicholas Longworth, grandfather of our own lucky 
Congressman, probably inspired the poem, as he is the 
one who by his skill, daring and public spirit popularized 
grape growing in the vicinity of Cincinnati, the city of 
his residence. It is said that at one time he had 70 
acres under his supervision and control. The enterprise 
was doomed to failure 
however, for there is al¬ 
ways enough humidity in 
the air here to develop the 
spores of the black and 
brown rots, and like small¬ 
pox and other contagious 
diseases where there are 
vast numbers of people 
congregated, so is this bac¬ 
terial plague more diffi¬ 
cult to eradicate in a 
large vineyard than a few 
isolated vines. The indus¬ 
try was abandoned. The 
writer is located 15 miles 
south of Cincinnati at the 
edge of a table land that 
breaks off into the Licking 
Valley, 'flic farm consists 
of 190 acres of land that 
mostly stands up on edge 
in various degrees of in¬ 
clination, and so full of 
limestone that many of the 
post holes for trellis can 
be made only with dyna¬ 
mite. After clearing, back 
in the 40’s it was allowed 
to set in Blue grass and 
used for several decades 
for grazing, then culti¬ 
vated in tobacco until the 
soil was about all trans¬ 
ferred to the Delta of the Mississippi, and tobacco and 
other crops would no longer pay. 
A START IN VITICULTURE.—Something had to 
be done. Our tastes ran more to horticulture than to 
live stock, so we began planting small and large fruits 
of various kinds, with like degrees of success—and 
failure; among which six acres Concord, two acres 
Catawba, one acre Niagara and one acre Delaware 
grapes were planted around the top (three sides) of one 
of our high knobs. They grew fairly well, and the 
third year we had a few nice clusters per vine—an earn¬ 
est, we hoped, of the profitable crops to come. Next 
year there was a nice small crop set on and in June, 
when we were cheerfully thinking there would be no 
rot on such a high and dry hill, they all suddenly with 
one consent began to rot. All except the Delaware, 
and they withered on the vine, refusing to ripen. What 
grapes we sold paid for picking off the rotten ones, 
or T should say picking the few sound berries 
that remained on the clusters—maybe we received a 
little more than the cost of this operation. They sold at 
good prices, too, I know of nothing more conducive 
to the “blues” than the circumstances narrated. That 
was about 16 years ago, and there were almost no 
grapes grown in this section of country. The next 
Spring we subscribed for The R. N.-Y., and mixed a 
thick Bordeaux, and put it on vines ivith brushes before 
growth started, and sprayed six times with the same as 
usually made now, resulting in a much less proportion 
of rot, but many years of persistent work were necessary 
with knapsack sprayers before it ceased to be a con¬ 
siderable item of loss, and it never has been eliminated 
entirely; last year with its continual rains alternating 
with hot sunshine caused a visitation of this plague that 
increased the cost of packing more than three times, to 
say nothing of the larger item of decrease in quantity 
and quality. This year I used a one-horse geared spray¬ 
ing machine, made to order for steep hillsides, requiring 
ono man with a handspike to hold it from turning over 
and another to drive, and there is very little rot. The 
machine makes a dense fog for '10 feet on each side, 
and puts a copper plate armor on everything in reach. 
This worked with so much success that I found it un¬ 
necessary to spray late in the season, hence the fruit is 
not rendered objectionable for eating out of hand. 
RESULTS OF HARD WORK.—Our faith in spray¬ 
ing was tested some years ago from the fact that a 
neighbor back on the high tablelands planted a small 
vineyard of Concord and Ives, which yielded several full 
crops free from rot, without spraying. About the time 
we had got the rot under control in our vineyard, he 
came asking advice, saying his were not worth gather¬ 
ing. He concluded after trial that spraying was too 
expensive, and pulled his vines up. That is the his¬ 
tory of most attempts to grow grapes here, and neigh¬ 
bors wonder how we make any financial success of it. 
Well, there was no success about it until we bad about 
16 years’ experience, when our Government “opened 
the mills instead of the mints,” the “grape seed caused 
appendicitis” scare somewhat subsided, the northern 
growers formed associations and ceased to dump their 
trainloads into Cincinnati on consignment, and by packing 
only fancy grapes under our brand we established a rep¬ 
utation, and a trade that is able and willing to pay a 
better price than for the common run. In spite of the 
rather meagre returns we stubbornly began to increase 
our acreage, and from better returns the last few years, 
more freely, until we have 36 acres, 24 in full bearing 
now. In 1903 and 1904 there was a fair profit over oper ¬ 
ating expenses. Last year there was practically noth¬ 
ing on account of freeze in May and a bad case of rot. 
This year I expect a good profit because we have every 
advantage over those who grow a few grapes as a side 
issue, and not enough to “make it an object.” Wc 
make it a specialty; that is the secret of any success we 
have had. Everything must be “just so” that is con¬ 
nected with it. We supply only the fancy trade in Cin¬ 
cinnati, which leaves a large surplus to distribute 
through three or four commission houses to a like trade 
in the various towns and cities in the surrounding States 
by express. 
RETAINING SOIL.—Many of the vines in the orig¬ 
inal 10 acres are dead from having the dirt washed 
away from the roots, and in later plantings we ran wide 
ditches, well banked below at a proper grade to take the 
water slowly to convenient hollows, and in case there 
were no hollows we ran 
them to one point to empty 
which soon made a hol¬ 
low, to the great scandal 
of our brethren of the soil. 
It would make an awful 
gulley but it saved the 
vines. In addition to this 
we sowed rye to hold the 
ground and supply humus. 
We let it grow up rather 
tall before plowing, and 
as we could use only one- 
horse shovel plows, we 
had plenty of “rock and 
rye” all Summer. It 
might not cure a cough as 
well as the drug store 
kind, but would open the 
pores of the skin, and ban 
ish insomnia. Some years 
of experience decided me 
to adopt the Kniffin sys¬ 
tem of training, rather 
than the lower forms, and 
now we have some under 
the Munson form of the 
Kniffin. I do not agree with 
those who say it makes 
little difference what form 
of training is adopted. Wc 
use all the stable manure 
we can buy, beg or bor¬ 
row, which is not very 
much, and for commercial fertilizer, almost exclu¬ 
sively muriate of potash to sweeten and flavor the 
fruit, depending on the disintegrating limestone for 
sufficient phosphoric acid, and will try a few cow peas 
this year for nitrogen. 
PRUNING is done very carefully in Winter and 
early Spring. I have my men count the buds frequently 
to guard against too much or little bearing wood. Trim¬ 
mings are carried out and burned to destroy spores. 
Cultivation is the same as for any crop. I pick in boxes 
bolding about one-third bushel when level full. These 
can be racked up on sled or wagon and hauled to pack¬ 
ing house, where experienced women under the eye 
of a watchful foreman do the packing. I have an ar¬ 
rangement by which an account is kept of the quantity 
packed by each one, but they are paid by the day, with 
regard to the quantity and quality of their work. It is 
a semi-piece work plan. Each packer puts her number 
on the handles of all baskets packed by her with a 
rubber stamp, and they are frequently tested for qual¬ 
ity by weight and examination. Should there be any 
complaint made as to quality or weight by consumer the 
A FIELD OF COLUMBIAN RASPBERRIES. Fig. 260. 
