The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1889-12-06
THE ORCHARD.
Two Months of Grapes.

There is no fruit. it seems to me, that
The apple is, it maybe asid, the univer-
sal fruit of the temperate zone and
rightly it has that place, for it can be
kept by simple means from one year till
new apples come again the next; and it
also enters SO largely into the food of
mankind that no other fruit can we'll
take its place. But with the apple, the
grape should have a prominent place in
the list of fruits of every one who has
room to grow the vines.
But the merits of the grape in general
was not the object of this article, but to
give the reader % little of my experience
this year with q few varieties. I do this
because l know the general custom of
the farmer who cultivates the grape ut
nil is to have a few vines of one variety,
and if they rot he has no grapes; and
when these are gone he no longer has
the pleasure of this most delicious
fruit.
Believing that by setting q number of
varieties 1 might avoid the rot and also
extend the season, I last year set about
twenty varieties of such us the cata-
logues recommended as desirable for
table grapes. I have had the pleasure
of seeing eleven of these varieties bear
GAOuSA LII Gill " kS6t tuSlG Nulue 10Y
the table, and also their time of ripen-
ing in this latitude.
l may say here, before speaking Ofthe
varieties, that I sacked most of them
when about two-thirds grown, as much
to protect them from bees, wasps, and
birds as to prevent rotting. This, of
course, retards ripening o little, but the
dates / shall give of the first eight
varieties are the dates of their being
fairly ripe outside the sacks-clusters
that were not bagged. OF course, the
vines being young, they were not n test
as to the liability of any variety to rot,
or to resist rot, hence I will say nothing
On that point. The varieties that bore
with me. and their time of ripening, are
as follows:
Agawam, Aug. 1. These are medium
sized black grapes of fair quality.
Moore's Early, Aug. 4. Black grape.
excellent quality. The last Of these
were picked Aug. %.
Wyoming Red, Aug. ii. Red grapes,
flavor resembling Delaware, but being o
little lagger.
Brighton, Aug. Is. Red grapes. good
size, the sweetest grape of all.
Niagara, Aug. 90. White grape, very
compact and large clusters, excellent
quality, better flavor by keeping on the
vines till middle of September.
Xergennes, Aug. %. Red grape, large.
Empire State, Aug. 30. White grape.
medium-size berry and cluster, good
quality, vigorous grower.
Pocklington, Sept. 5. Yellow grape,
excellent quality, large berry and clus-
ter, and vigorous grower. Tho last of
these We're picked Sept. II.
Worden, Sept. ii. Black grape, re-
sembling Concord. good quality, but
does not ripen quito as even as some.
Noah, Sept. 10. White grape. medium
size bunch and berry, resembling Em-
pire State in size, color, and flavor, but
seed a little larger. The Inst of these
We're picked Oct. 1.
This gives two months of ripe grapes
and NIL good varieties for table use, the
Agawam being the least desirable in that
respect of the lot, but desirable for its
early ripening. / have omitted the vine
of Ives Seeding that bore a few berries,
because that is too tough aud sour for a
table grape. The dates given are of
first fully ripening, but any of them
might be retained on the vines as much
as three weeks, and thereby extend the
timc.-G. Fl. French, in Prairie Farmer.