FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
30 
new varieties of any of these fruits have 
been introduced within the past year. 
Possibly it may be well to call attention 
to some facts in regard to grape culture 
in this state. There is no difficulty in 
making the vines grow, that is, the diffi¬ 
culties are only such as are tO' be met in 
the culture of any other fruit, and the 
vines of most varieties will ripen good 
crops, beautiful bunches of fruit of ex¬ 
cellent quality, and they will ripen at a 
time when no other grapes are to be found 
in the markets of northern cities. 
About twenty years ago, being at that 
time connected with the Florida Dispatch, 
I was in Orlando at the time when the 
first crop of fruit began to ripen on the 
vineyard of the Niagara Grape Company. 
In company with several gentlemen of 
Orlando, I went by special invitation to 
visit the vineyard, to inspect the vines 
and sample the fruit. We found thrifty 
vines bearing a good crop, fully as large 
as the age of the vines would warrant. 
The bunches were large and the berries 
beautiful in appearance, and of as good 
quality as the Niagara ever produces. Yet 
within a few years the vineyard was 
abandoned. I never heard the full partic¬ 
ulars, but understand that it was owing 
to the fact that the cost of transportation 
was so great that no profit was left for 
the growers. Another instance where the 
express companies put on a rate which 
was not what the traffic would bear, but 
enough to kill it, as it did the early at¬ 
tempts at peach growing. 
A little later, a number of Niagara 
vineyards were set out near Moultrie in 
St. Johns county. Within a few years 
they also ceased to ship fruit to northern 
markets, probably for the same reason. 
That these vineyards have not been en¬ 
tirely abandoned, is shown by the fact 
that last year the St. Augustine papers 
contained advertisements of wine made 
fromi Niagara grown at Moultrie. 
Possibly you may wonder why straw¬ 
berries can be profitably grown and ship¬ 
ped from Florida, when they must be 
sent in refrigerators, while grapes can 
go by ordinary express. The difference 
is that the strawberries reach the northern 
markets when there is a scarcity of fruit, 
while the grapes ripen in midsumm.er and 
must compete in the markets with rasp¬ 
berries, blackberries, cherries, etc.; con¬ 
sequently they will not sell for so high 
a price. 
Fig culture in Florida has never be¬ 
come a commercial success. The fruit 
is so soft, when ripe, that it cannot be 
shipped to a distant market. So far as 
I know, no effort has been made to in¬ 
troduce the Smyrna fig, from which the 
dried fisfs of commerce are made. Thev 
are being successfully grown in Califor¬ 
nia, and I see no reason why their cul¬ 
tivation could not also be made profitable 
in this state. 
The greatest drawback to profitable fig 
culture in Florida is the fact that the trees 
are very susceptible to the ravages of root- 
knot. As was shown in the address of 
Prof. E. A. Bessey before this society last 
year (see the annual report for last meet¬ 
ing), the only remedy for this trouble is 
to starve out the nematodes which cause 
it. 
Japanese persimmon trees grow thrifti¬ 
ly and bear large crops of fruit. Yet very 
few have succeeded in making the culti-r 
vation profitable. The chief reason foF 
this is the fact that the fruit is yet so 
new in market that very few have ac¬ 
quired a taste for it; hence the demand 
