Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1865-11-21

va yRrds-Gcrmans and Grape CROWN
-Grapes Sold AbrOad-iOO.OOO Ga
." Ions of Wine made on the .IsIaud
Wine VauIIs-Grape CuItin=s-Lim
r stone Quarries-FIsheries
ID hELLEY's ISLAND, Nov. 16, 1865.
The grape crop has become one of sue
d Importance in the Lake region, that
q somewhat extended account of the rise
e progress and present condition of crap
culture on Kelley's Island will interes
+ many readers. 1t is stated that in tn
= year 1916 the value of the grapes sold b.
# Mr. ID. Kelley-the only individual whC
then had grapes in bearing-did not ex
eeed five dollars. In 1861 the value O.
tfrv ratIIi.Ila1 ls- IL
J ship Assessors at fifty-one thousand and
r eighty dollars, from one hundred and
twenty-eight and one-half acres. About
one-half the vines counted as bearing pro-
duced their first crop, of course only half
a full one. The whole amount of land
planted to vines, up to and including the
year 1862, amounted to four hundred and
ninety-four acres; and in 1865 the acres
in bearing are estimated at seven hundred
About one hundred acres were planted
with vines this year. The average yield
of the present crop of grapes is estimated
at three and a half tons to the acre,
making an aggregate oftwo thousand four
hundred tons, of the total value of three
hundred and sixty thousand dollars. The
first shipments were made August lsth
| the Hartford Prolific and Concords bring
ing twenty-five cents per pound. All
packing grapes sold at an average of
twelve and one-half cents-for wine as low
as five cents-average of eight cents.
About fifteen hundred of the twenty
eight hundred acres on the Island are con-
sidered good grape land, and the price of
such lands has risen steadily from fifty
dollars an acre in 1854, tosix or seven hun
dred dollars in 1865. Bearing VINEYARDS
are held at fifteen hundred dollars per
acre, and Judging from past crops and
prices would prove average ten per
cent. investments at two thousand an
acre-this year full twenty per cent No
wonder then that grape fever prevails, !
and that Cincinnati and other vine grow
ers have an eye on the southern shore of |
Lake Erie and the Islands thereof
In 1854 Mr.. Addison Kelley sold the |
first land for vineyard purposes,
five acres, at fifty dollars per |
acre. 1t was thought an extravagant |
price for land on the island but Mr..
X. said the first crop would more than re-
pay the whole outlay, and that the next
sale of five acres would be at higher fig
ure. He limited purchasers from his farm
to five acres, and soon made second sale
at sixty dollars, a third at seventv-fve.
hundred per acre. Mr.. q. &. Huntington
also disposed of some of his grape land in
small lots at similarly increased prices
tho grape vf,itl,s,,v- l,vos,,tv- ess,-sF..I
sales were made all round the Island at
constantly increasing rates. Up to this
time nothing like a check has occurred,
and for nineteen years the first vineyard
set on the Island has yielded full crop,
the present being as large as any previous
one. This small vineyard was set out by
Mr. d. Kelley in the garden attached to
the Island House, with roots from Isabella
cuttings obtained the season previous of
Rev. DR.. Aiken, of Cleveland, and Hon.
Reuben Wood, of Rockport. A portion
of the cuttings Mr. X. divided among the
members of his family, then resident on
the Island All these vines are still
in as good condition as when they
first came into bearing In the
spring of 1874 Mr.. d. Kelley brought
a quantity of Catawba cuttings from the
garden Of Judge Ely, of Elyria, which he
distributed in the same manner as before
and were the first Catawbas planted on
the Island. That they are in as good con-
dition as anyof the younger vines is shown
bv the fact that Mr.. Bourne, of the Island
House, informs us that he obtained two
thousand seven hundred pounds of Cataw-
bas and Isabellas for table use this season,
from the old vineyard Of less than half an
acre. The vineyard has been well trimmed
and cultivated for the twenty odd years it
has been growing, and the grapes have not
failed in quantity or quality for Il single
season since the vines came into bearing.
They were set six by eight feet apart,
trained low on wire trellises, and the rows
are plowed between spring and fall, the
from them in the spring. This is the usual
distance of planting and mode of cultivat-
ing on the Island, though some modern
vineyards are set eight by eight or eight
bv nine feet. The vines are generally |
trimmed but once each year, late in the
fall after the fruit is gathered, open spells
when not frozen in winter, or early in the
spring. Wire trellis is everywhere used,
experience showing it to be the best and |
cheapest in the long run. The tendrils
cling readily to the wires, saving much |
labor in tying, and the wire longest in use |
shows no sign of rust or failure.
The cost of putting out an acre of grapes
is now about as follows: Undertaking |
500; plowing $50; posts $50; half ton |
annealed wire SlO0; 1000 roots S25; put |
ting in 500; cultivation first year $50. |
The two first years the cost of cuitivating |
grapes is about the same as corn, and |
crops of potatoes are usually made between |
the rows. Afterward to work and harvest |
an acre of grapes costs about 500, and a |
good laborer will tend some six acres. The |
gathering of grapes is mainly done by |
women and children, who use scissors in |
clipping off the clusters and freeing them
from any unripe or defective berries. The
vineyards art USUAL ouAltNbSN " wv "a
three pickings-the first and second being
for choice table and packing punches
which bring extra prices, and the third for
wine making. For wine purposes the
longer the grapes hang on the vines with
out too heavy frosts the sweeter the fruit
and the richer the juice. Late as it is in
November many tons of grapes are yet
ungathered, and still
| ''The rural youth and virgins DER the field,
Each fond for each to Gull the autumnal prime,
| ExuIting rove, and speak the vintage here.
still comes the crushing vain; the country floats,
| And foams unbounded with the Nasty flood;
| That by degrees fermented, and refined,
| Round the raised nations pOurs the cup of joy
Mr.. Addison Kelley is among the first of
the Island grape growers, and has planted
about thirty acres in all. He has nineteen
acres in bearing, yielding this season sew
enty-two tons of grapes, worth Sl6O per
ton. His manufacture of wine will reach
ten thousand gallons-a ton of grapes
yielding 200 gallons of juice, or l75 gal
Ions of wine. The balance of his grapes
Mr.. X. markets for lack of wine storage
room on the Island, though most of the
spacious cellar under his new residence is
constructed for wine vaults.
Mr. Charles Kelley has a beautiful Ca
tawba vineyard of nine acres, and one
. | o,ra Of leo balIo In fill baorino He has