THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
141 
Correspondence 
SOME MINNESOTA GRAPES 
Ed. National Nurseryman; 
The Beta, Monitor, Dakota, and Suelter grapes probably 
originated about 1870, the result of a cross between the 
Concord grape and a wild form of Vitis vulpina. This cross 
was made by Louis Suelter of Carver County on his faim 
about twenty-five or thirty miles west of Minneapolis. T. V. 
Munson, of Denison, Texas, in his “Foundations of American 
Grape Culture,” says that Mr. Suelter sent plants to him of a 
native white fruited variety of Vitis vulpina, which bore .small 
compact clusters, two to two and one-half inches long, of 
good quality. This was the mother plant, the pollen being 
taken from the Concord vine. Fifteen seedlings of this lot 
w^ere saved, according to Mr. Suelter’s statement. They 
bloomed first in 1881. The majority of them, however, 
suffered from mildew during the blossoming time, and as a 
result, only five were kept. Four of these five are the Beta, 
Monitor, Dakota and Suelter. No mention is made of the 
fifth. Mr. Suelter grew these on his own place at Carver 
during his lifetime, but never attempted to propagate them. 
The Beta grape was obtained from Mr. Suelter and 
propagated by the Minnesota Experiment Station, and has 
been quite generally distributed. It is probably the best of 
the grapes, and will stand our weather conditions the best of 
any grape yet tried in this vicinity. It is an early maturing 
variety, generally ripe at St. Paul early in September. In 
igii, it was ripe about the middle of July. The berries are 
medium in size, purple, clusters compact, and frequentl}^ 
shouldered. It is quite common for vines of the variety to 
yield forty to fifty pounds of frmt. The-quality of the fruit 
is inferior. It is good enough so that, where no other grape 
is available, it is used in considerable quantities in its fresh 
state. It is especially desirable in'jellies and grape juice, 
and when thoroughly ripe, may be eaten out of hand. The 
vine needs no winter protection, but should be severely 
pruned. It is useful for arbors. 
The Dakota, Monitor and vSuelter are very similar to the 
Beta. 
Mr. William Pfaender, Jr., of New Ulm, who has spent 
some little effort in attempting to work out the history of the 
Beta and these other varieties, has this to say of the Beta and 
Dakota; 
“I have the Beta from three different sources and find 
that I have two kinds of Beta, one showing its leaves earlier 
than the other and bearing better, while the one that defolia¬ 
tes l0,ter is a more vigorous grower. I find the Dakota 
defoliates fully two weeks earlier than the early defoliating 
Beta, and the fruit is sweeter than all the others. It is dis¬ 
tinguished from the Beta by its sweet taste and by the fact 
that, when the berry of the Dakota is picked from the stem, 
the stub shows a greenish-white color, while that of the Beta 
is red.” 
From Mr. Pfaender’s observations and trials of Suelter’s 
grapes, he is quite certain that two different Carver grapes 
have been sent out as the Beta. I think the large majority 
of the Beta of the state is the earlier ripening variety, and am 
quite well satisfied that this is what we have sent out from the 
Experiment Station. 
We have planted a large number of Beta seed, and as a 
result, have at the Fruit Breeding Station about 500 or more 
fruiting plants. Among these are some half dozen seedlings 
that promise to be much better in flavor and bearing qualities 
than the original Beta, and I am sending you photographs 
of these. 
St. Paul, Minn. LeRoy Cauy."^ 
INSPECTION OF FOREIGN SHIPMENTS OF NURSERY 
STOCK AT PORT OF ENTRY 
Ed. National Nurseryman: 
This theory could not be advocated by any person having 
any practical idea of what it would mean. It has been jiroven 
impracticable—impossible of execution, and it almost seems 
like a waste of time to cover the question again. 
When this plan was first advocated in 1910, your editor. 
Professor Craig, came to New York to examine conditions 
for himself. He took many photographs of the congested 
New York docks, and his article and photographs in April 
issue of National Nurseryman showed clearly that the plan 
was impracticable—impossible. 
The S. S. Florida, which arrived January nth, last, 
brought from France 791 cases of fruit stocks—apiiroxi- 
mately twelve millions of seedlings, besides a general cargo. 
It takes from four to ten days to got these cases removed 
from the docks and forwarded to different destinations. 
Probably four to six arriving steamers in that same week 
brought consignments of nursery stock. 
The S. S. Noordam, which arrived in New York February 
17th, brought 1599 cases and bales of nursery stock. The 
S. S. Ryndam, February 24th, brought 2122 packages, and 
the S. S. Rotterdam, March nth, last, brought 1881 pack¬ 
ages. This represents three weeks’ arrivals from Holland 
only and over one line. 
Steamers bringing these shipments dock in an unbroken 
line of fifteen miles of docks on the North and East Rivers, 
surrounding Manhattan Island. Also five miles up the Jersey 
side, embracing Hoboken and Jersey City docks, also in 
Brooklyn and South Brooklyn, many miles from the center 
of New York City. 
As your photographs showed, even the largest and newest 
docks are congested. The cases are often stacked up 25 feet 
high and overflow into the streets. The docks are nearly all 
dark, and it is with difficulty that the hundreds of truckmicn 
and freight handlers can get light enough to read the marks 
and numbers of the cases by which they ship them. Even if 
there were room there for inspectors, would they be able to 
locate any plant pests, even with the aid of powerful micro¬ 
scopes ? 
But the inspectors could perhaps rcmxove the packages 
from the different docks—separated by m^any miles of con¬ 
gested shipping streets to a central dc]jot for inspection. 
There is no building at present in New York large enough to 
accomimodate these' shipments, even the new Woolworth 
Building occupying a squaie block has only 63 stories, but a 
new building could be built. Land is cheap in New York and 
