1913. 
1111 
Ruralisms 
FRUIT NOTES FROM MISSOURI. 
Of all the small fruit harvests that of 
the grape is to me the most pleasurable. 
The crop has now been gathered and 
marketed, and I look back at its month 
of activity as the most interesting of the 
horticultural year. The past is a Sum¬ 
mer to be remembered for its drought, 
beginning the last of April and not yet 
broken here in the midst of September. 
Three or four short but heavy rains were 
all the moisture given to the fruit 
grower by the elements; for the rest his 
dependence was on the subsoil and his 
own foresight. Here was an opportunity 
for the grape to vindicate its claims as 
a heat and drought resister and manfully 
it did so. The crop was, according to 
reports, generally a good one. In the 
many arbors in backyards that are found 
here in town it did not escape unscathed, 
for where cultivation was not practiced, 
the drought was able to leave its im¬ 
press. Backyard grapes were below their 
standard size and ripened unevenly. Our 
vineyard had good, clean, mellow culture 
and there was no sign of deterioration. 
The total crop on about an acre was 
5,500 pounds and this was all sold at 
retail in quantities that rarely exceeded 
a market basketful to a customer at one 
time. One day the sales ran to over 
GOO pounds. Cutting began the last of 
THE KUKAt 
and fruit stands, and this demand we 
found adequate to absorb all the extra 
earlies. The Italian fruit venders and 
two grocers bought in bulk, but the other 
grocers found readiest sale for the fruit 
in tomato baskets holding three pounds 
net, which they sold at 15 cents. As the 
Concords came in, the demand at the 
grocers’ slackened, but the canning or¬ 
ders continued steady. A little later 
we began to foster a trade in table or 
dessert grapes by making up small bas¬ 
kets of fine and showy varieties for 
which we asked five cents a pound. This 
plan was found to work very well and 
to take all the fancy grapes that re¬ 
mained. A number of these had been 
sacked for protection, mostly the finer 
clusters. We do not find sacking profit¬ 
able, partly from lack of expert hands 
and partly because the crop moves too 
fast. The only reason that might justify 
it . would be a trade in fancy grapes at 
six or seven or eight cents per pound. 
California grapes are appearing at the 
grocers, and selling at 10 cents, and 
really they are not as good as our natives. 
The sensation of the vineyard this year 
in red grapes Was the Vergennes. This 
grape has always been a favorite but one 
of the vines distinguished itself with the 
most perfect and beautiful yield it was 
ever my fortune to see. The crop must 
have been near 30 pounds and every 
cluster large and symmetrical. They 
ripened perfectly with a rich glowing 
NEW-YORKER 
THE VERGENNES GRAPE. Fig. 424. 
July and endured nearly four weeks. 
Unlike the berry crops the grape de¬ 
mands no army of pickers with its wor¬ 
ries and strain. Two men and a boy, and 
not always busy, handled the entire crop. 
We sold as rapidly as possible on ac¬ 
count of the damage by birds. The yel¬ 
low-breasted oriole is not only the chief 
but the only offender. There are other 
birds that like grapes and eat them, but 
they swallow them whole without fear of 
appendicitis. The bird stomach is too 
diminutive to contain a quantity ap¬ 
preciable in 5,500 pounds, but the epi¬ 
curean oriole swallows no skin, seeds or 
even pulp. Unfermented grape juice 
alone satisfies his appetite. Alighting on 
a line cluster he stabs grape after grape, 
drinking only a drop or two from each. 
One’s virtue, therefore, is sorely tried 
when cluster after cluster are found thus 
desecrated and the mutilated grapes have 
to be picked off. Under this process a 
few kinds will burst at the pressure of 
your fingers, refusing to leave the pedi¬ 
cel, and making an unpleasant and 
tedious mess. The thin-skinned Brigli-. 
ton must bear the chief opprobrium in 
this respect. 
For years the standard price of grapes 
on the local market has been three cents 
a pouu'd, but the general uplift of prices 
permitted some increase this year and 
last. The first good grapes on the mar¬ 
ket, Moore’s and Campbell’s, sold steadily 
at four cents, and this year fine table 
grapes for the first time held up to that 
figure throughout the season, and this 
included graded Concords. For canning 
purposes the price stood at three cents, 
a market basket bringing 50 cents with 
its 17 pounds of grapes—that just heap 
it well. Then there is quite a demand for 
grapes to make grape juice of. For table \ 
grapes we tried to cut out the private 
customer and to supply only the stores 
color that words will not describe. The 
beauty of these grapes called forth uni¬ 
versal admiration. The Vergennes is 
vigorous in vine, productive, with very 
large berries, full of juice and excellent 
in quality, and so handsome that they 
create a demand wherever seen. It re¬ 
sembles Woodruff’s Red but is even more 
showy and of better quality. Three 
clusters on one stem weighed 2% pounds, 
as shown in the picture. 
Missouri. l. r. Johnson. 
Morning Star, Longfield and Arkansas Black 
Apples. 
ould you recommend the Morning 
Star, Longfield, and Arkansas Black ap¬ 
ples for a commercial plantation? If 
you can describe these apples do so. We 
are a little_ colder here than Detroit, 
Midi. A friend of mine planted a few 
and would like to know more about them 
than he does at present. k. c. c. 
St. George, Out. 
The Morning Star apple I do not know, 
but one called Star I do know and while 
it is a greenish apple of fair size, it is 
not a keeper and I would not recommend 
it for planting commercially. The Long¬ 
field is a rather small yellow apple with 
a bright blush and of fair quality, but it 
is not a good commercial variety in com¬ 
parison with others that are well suited 
to Ontario. Nor is Arkansas Black suit¬ 
able for part of the country. It is a 
seedling of Winesap and does well where 
that variety does, which is in the lati¬ 
tude from Virginia to the Pacific coast. 
In the North none of the Winesap type 
attain their proper development. The 
varieties to plant in Ontario commer¬ 
cially are such as have been tried there 
and found to be profitable. McIntosh, 
Sutton, Northern Spy, Canada Red, 
Northwestern Greening and Ontario are 
good kinds for that purpose. 
H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
I 
#£ O o.s AH r Or r 
FOR MEN 
H^TEVS^lj 
TRADE MARK 
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