COMMUNICATIONS—GRAPE CULTURE. 369 
license, and in the absence of all restraint my crop was fear¬ 
fully injured. 
An interesting table in the Report of Agriculture for 1868, 
gives the number of pounds of grapes to the acre- in the vari¬ 
ous grape-growing states, as follows : 
Pounds. 
Connecticut. 6,000 
Illinois.5,072 
Indiana ... ..C, 666 
Iowa. . 6,200 
Missouri. 6,900 
Massachusetts. 7,000 
New York.’.4, 571 
Ohio.3,475 
Pennsylvania.3,000 
South Carolina. - .2,400 
I regret that I did not accurately determine the weight of 
my grapes on the half acre of Concords, but I weighed the 
fruit on some of the vines, one of the heaviest going as high 
as forty-three pounds. My estimate was an average of not 
less than ten pounds to the vine, which with 1,000 vines would 
equal 10,000 pounds on a half acre. I may reduce my esti¬ 
mate one half and then exceed the highest amount credited to 
any other state by 100 per cent. 
Now, as I only set out to show that grapes may be raised 
in Wisconsin on a cheaper, more certain and profitable 
scale than by the usual methods, I shall have gained my point 
if others may be induced to test the simple plan herewith 
recommended. Every farmer may supply his table with this 
delicious fruit, without any appreciable cost or trouble. A 
dozen vines of proper bearing age will be ample for the do¬ 
mestic wants of any family. The cost would not exceed the 
cost of a dozen glasses of whisky, and would prove a perpet¬ 
ual benefit. 
Every well to-do farmer may raise one acre of grapes, and 
make it more profitable than five acres of any other product 
by reducing the fruit to wine. With proper attention, and by 
adding a small amount of sugar to neutralize the excess of acids 
in our native varieties, he may realize from 500 to 700 gallons 
per acre; and as Concord wine ranks with the Catawba in the 
St. Louis market—both rated at $2 per gallon—the profits in 
24—Ag. Tr. 
