The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-09-30

try are as fine in appearance and flavor as
any produced in the great grape growing
regions of Central New York and the
Chautauqua district.
The grape, like the peach and orange in
perfection, belongs to that small class of
fruits that never cloy the appetite. fine
bunch Of grapes is ever fair and fresh and
new, and yet despite the fact that tho
grape will grow On land that is compare
lively worthless for grain or vegetables;
that much of Washington is fitted by soil
and climate for the cultivation of table
grapes, in distinction from the wine
grapes of California; despite these facts the
growing of grapes for the table is COM
paratively neglected industry among our
people. Not enough Concords are raised
to supply the Seattle market, although
they retail here at Is cents . pound, which
is three times the price they bring in the
markets of New York city. The large and
snowy grapes of California fill our stalls.
Of foreign stock they are excellent for
wine-making, but the skin of the Cali
fornia grape is thick and the flavor infer
Tor in sprig htliness to the grapes of our
country, like the Concord, which date
from American stock. Eastern United
States is richer in true grapes
than any other part of the world,
there being seven or eight species,
four of which have yielded excellent
cultivated varieties. The wild grapes Of
America are the Northern fox grape, the
Southern fox grape, the summer grape and
the winter or frost grape. From our
Northern fox grape, which is also found in
Japan, have come the Isabella, the Con-
cord, the Catawba and many other excel
ent varieties. In Sanborn's life Of Tho
reau we find the statement that from
these river grapes by Seeding culture,
Concord gardner bred and developed the
Concord grape" The Delaware grape is
probably Seeding of the Catawba. Early
in this century the culture of the native
grape was begun at Georgetown, D. c., by
Maj. John Album, who first produced the
Catawba. 1t is worth noting that the Pa
cific states have two native varieties of
grapes that have been domesticated-Vit Wits
Californian and Wits Arizonica.
In Washington we have no doubt that
the varieties of grapes that have sprung
from the wild American stock can be
raised in perfection; that three of the best
varieties of table grapes, the Concord, the
Catawba and the Delaware, can be made
to grow luxuriantly. The grape grower
can get here double the price for his grapes
that is paid in the Eastern market, and
his crop is secure because we have no
severe autumn frosts such as are not infre-
quent in New York and New England.
Fruit growing in Washington depends
for its success upon the same conditions
that are insisted upon by Mr.. Meeker in
his statement of the essentials to success
in hop growing; the fruit grower, like the
hop grower, must understand his business
and must be willing to achieve success by
deserving it. Eastern fruit growers say
that the apples of Oregon and Washing
ton would not be inferior in flavor to the
best fruit of New Jersey if the Pacific
coast fruit grower took equally good care
of his orchard. Better peaches for the
table are raised in certain spots in Oregon
than are grown in California, but in
neither Oregon nor Washington has the
business of fruit growing been highly de-
veloped.
The time is coming, with the increase of
irrigation, when a great deal more fruit
and great deal better fruit will be raised
and brought to market than at present.
Certainly state that can produce such
pears as are grown at Walla Walla and
| such grapes as are grown ut Yakima has
future as a fruit growing state of fine
promise before it.