The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1865-12-27

! VINEYARD PRoFIrs.-The grape crop, the
nary yield; and vet, such as it was, i, was worth
/ four times as much as the same amount Of
/ ground could have yielded in the ordinary
crops of the country If Bauer, of Nauvoo,
made, this year, only three thousand gallons
! of wine from nine acres of grapes or. if
Rolman, on the West bank of the Rapids
four miles from this city, made only fifteen
hundred aud fifty gallons of wine from four
acres and a half of grapes, yet let it be re-
membered, that native wine is worth, at
present, from So 90 to - 80 per gallon. and
Bauer crop is worth 81, 200 and Rolman S is
worth $500, or thereabouts. Deduct, if
you choose, twenty five per cent. of the whole
amount for the culture Of the grapes and the
manufacture of the wine, and still how enor-
nous are the profits compared with the yield
of ordinary crops of garden vegetables or
grain on the same lands.
The experience of grape growing at Nauvoo
and along the Rapids, in the vicinity of this
city, sustains the theory Of the writers on the
cultivation of the vine, that it bears best when
Immediately in the vicinity of large sheets of
water, which have tendency to equalize the
surrounding atmosphere; because no where
else in the West do grapes succeed so well as
IN the above neighborhoods.
Land on both sides of the Rapids from its
foot to its head, is comparatively cheap and
if all the ground along the Rapids, on both
sides of the river, extending to the bluffs in
the rear on each side, were cultivated in
grapes, the annual profits would be Immense.
1t is twelve miles from the foot to the
head of the Rapids; and as it will prob
ably average three acres in depth, extend
ing from the water back to the bluffs,
which are good for grape culture, on each
side of the Rapids, the extent of land along
the Rapids good for grape culture amounts to
two thousand acres, or thereabouts. A full
crop of grapes would average from six hun
dred to eight hundred gallons of wine to the
acre, which. at 50 90 gallon, would come
to say ) 800 per acre and, for two thousand
acres, would amount to tire millions sir hun
dred thousand dollars The worth OF such a
crop on the Iowa side of the Rapids would
be onehalf of that amount, say one million
three hundred thousand dollars Or, suppose
the year should be unfavorable, and there
should be only one third of crop produced,
then the product on the Iowa side of the
Rapids, at the same price of wine, would
amount to S43s,833 39t. Or, suppose there
should be a full crop of grapes, but wine
should be worth only 81 90 gallon, then
the vintage on both sides Of the Rapids
would be worth one million two hundred
thousand dollars, or SIR hundred thousand
dollars for the Io,ca side Of the Rapids for
one gear!
Here are most startling facts. Facts which
show that Keokuk is most fortunately located
In the midst of section of country teeming !
with the wealth of nature, and which needs |
only the genial and enterprising hand of man |
to develop its ,cedlth and resources Why |
should the spirit of enterprise and the arm of |
industry roam to the South to grow the tardy |
and uncertain cotton, or wander to the Pacific |
slope to delve amongst the mountain cliffs to
scrape out the stinted gold dust, when here,
in the immediate vicinity of our homes, is q
soil teeming with more than California wealth,
and which, from its cheapness, is within the
ability of almost every one to purchase to the
extent of, at least, few acres enough, if !
properly cultivated, to furnish not only a sup
port, but wealth, for any one family. i
The cost of preparing the ground for grape
vine planting, may, in few days, furnish the
subject of another article.
1.-THE above reflections upon grape culture
and wine growing were handed us by one Of |
our citizens The subject is one Of much i'm
portance, and We hope to see, before many
years, the productive wealth of our county |
largely increased from this source