The Brunswick times. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 188?-1900, 1897-05-09

refined horticultural industry. Nothing
requires more neatness, more taste or
gives more pleasure to the horticulturist
than the various labors connected with
the vineyard and the packing house. If
we add to this that no other horticul-
tural industry known is equally profit
able, and that no other branch of horti-
culture responds equally to intelligent
care and study, it is but natural the
capitalist, the we'll to do tradesman, the
banker, the literary student and the pro-
fessiona1 teacher should all look to this
industry as one conveniently adapted as
a recreation from other work, horti-
cultural pursuit in which the health of
the body and the soul is equally i'm
proved and where the enjoyments of
rural life may be INDUCED in to the
fullest extent. From the very beginning
this was the case. The raisin vines in
Fresno and elsewhere in this state were
first planted by these classes of people,
and the raisin colony was synonymous
with refinement and culture, more so
than any other settlement in this state
or elsewhere. During the last year the
additions to our raisin growers have
come principally from the large cities
and nearly exclusively from people of
refinement and means. This again gives
to the raisin community an aspect of
refinement and taste, and traveller
through the districts where raisins are
the almost exclusive crop rather con-
siders himself viewing the outskirts of
large city, where villas and pleasure
gardens alternate, than the cultivated
acres Of the raisin grower, where every
foot of ground is guarded with jealous
care and made to produce to it's utmost
capacity.
There is no horticultural industry
which pays as well and yields a return
as quickly as the growing of raisin
grapes and their curing. The vines are
hardly planted before they begin to
bear some. Some grapes are borne on
the vines when they are a year old,
while 2-year-olds have been known to
bear crop. At three years the vines
pay the expenses and interest on the
money, and at four years from planting
they bring the first large paying crop.
The raisin is the poor mans friend, the
crop that will give him quick returns,
the crop that will enable him to pay
the mortgage on his farm the quickest,
the crop which, if he preserves and
cares for it, will make him independ-
emily rich i'll the shortest time. Fresno
and the San Joaquin valley are the on
ly places where the vines bear a second
crop OF grapes annually. In all other
sections, in this state as we'll as in Eu-
rope, the vines bear only first crop,
and no one ever expects to harvest any
thing else. The raisin grower there is
satisfied If weather and wind leave him
to harvest and cure this first and only
crop of his vines, and prosperous indeed
is the year when the rain and fog do
not injure even the earliest picked
grapes.
1t is known that as much as $3.50 per
acre has been realized by careful cult
walton and by thorough study of the
nature of the vine and its requirements.
Such yield is, however, rare and can
only be the outcome of a number of
propltious circumstances, such as rich
soil, manuring, favorable weather and
skill in handling the grapes. Smaller
yields OF $3.50 per acre are not uncom-
mon. A colonist with 10 to Is acres in
raisins can, with little care, realize
from 50, 500 to 81, 600 from his raisins
alone. The balance of 20 acres gives
him an abundance of vegetables, eggs,
poultry. milk, butter and other farm
products to live on for himself and fam
lily. Thus it will be seen that the life
of the raisin grower is both profitable
and pleasant. FRANK H. BROWN. I
His Speciality.