FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
125 
tions. I afterwards learned of him selling 
his fruit at $4.50 per bushel in peach 
crates. The vines were over 25 years old 
and had never been sprayed or systemat¬ 
ically pruned. 
In all, there is abundant evidence of the 
practical adaptability of the Muscadine 
type of grape to North Florida conditions 
while the evidence as to the lack of adapt¬ 
ability of the bunch grape type is equally 
authenticated by the past and it would ap¬ 
pear that it is now time for the horticul¬ 
turist of Florida to recognize what the 
past has taught, and center efforts on the 
production and commercialization of the 
type that succeeds. 
I would not for a minute discourage the 
maintenance of the European grapes in 
plant collections or the tender care of such 
a variety about a Florida home in order 
that the home might have a few clusters 
of this most highly developed type of 
fruit, but such grape growing is not likely 
to show a profit if practiced on a commer¬ 
cial scale. The native American bunch 
grapes, especially those derived from the 
Southern Aestivales, Linsicumen or Ber- 
quiniana species, will do better than the 
European varieties and may be justly 
planted about the homes to provide fruit 
for home consumption in advance of the 
Muscadine grape season, if one desires. 
Occasionally some individual who has had 
grape growing experience elsewhere may 
handle an acre or two with more or less 
profit from the sale of fruit, but he is 
likely to be deceived, for under Florida 
conditions, while the vines may seemingly 
show high quality fruit and no disease at 
first, the diseases will rapidly multiply— 
even when faithfully combatted with 
spraying; and the vines will, as they bear 
successive crops, lose their vitality and 
sooner or later become unprofitable even 
under the care of the best viticulturists. 
The grower without large capital would 
under such conditions find it necessary to 
start over again, but with his invested cap¬ 
ital lost with the failure of his grape vines. 
Contrast with this another individual who 
chose the Muscadine grapes as his viti- 
cultural venture. He will plant only once 
and if he gives the vines care within rea¬ 
son, his children will receive the vinevard 
along with other legacies. So far as past 
experience shows us, he need not spray for 
either insect or disease enemies. Since the 
vines are more productive, he will harvest 
larger crops. Because the Muscadine 
grape in its territory is, perhaps the most 
reliable annual cropper, he may feel rela¬ 
tively immune to crop failures. (In the 
15 years of its existence there has never 
been a crop failure in the Government’s 
Muscadine Grape Experiment Vineyard 
at Willard, N. C. We have had drought, 
rainy seasons, hail, wind, frost and late 
freezes, exceptionally cold winters and hot 
summers, but no crop failure.) I have 
seen 2*4 tons of fruit per acre picked from 
a commercial vineyard in North Carolina 
77 years old, and a ton of grapes and bale 
of cotton secured from an acre of 4-year- 
old vines a mile away in the same season. 
If the Florida grower of Muscadines neg¬ 
lects his vineyard he will still be more fa¬ 
vored than he deserves, while neglect for 
the “bunch grape” grower in Florida will 
mean certain loss. As to the market, no 
one can predict the future, but our experi- 
