The Portland daily press., 1900-03-08
THE GRAPE BELT.
II Yields 1850 Car Loads of Fruit /,
Season.
tYrom the Scientific American. }

4
in which the prosperous conditions of
1899 have worked an. immense improve
ment For several years past the fruit of
the vine has besn practically drug on
the market, and all through the ''grape
belt" Of western New York and northsr
Ohio the grapes were allowed to decay
upon acres OF vines simply because the
prevailing prices would not compensate
the vineyard proprietors for the outlay
necessary for picking and packing the
fruit and for the cost Of the light baskets
In which 1t Is shipped.
Conditions finally became 90 bad that
vineyar which few years ago Melted
their owners a profit Of q, 800 on Q season
could not Re leased outright at $500 per
annum. The present year has witnessed
the beginning of the Improvements Tbs
more prosperous conditions prevalent
throughout the country have OF course
hesn primarily responsible for this, but
contributory influences have assisted.
Notable among the latter has been con.
siderable decrease In the size Of the crop,
and the formation among the growers Of
associations for the mutual protection
OF interests and the maintenance OF
prices. There are In thu "grapebelt"
perhaps o dozen different organization Q
Of this character but their object Is q
common one.
"The grape belt' may be said to ex-
tend from Silver Creek, N. Y, along the
shores Of Lake Erie to Sandusky, o., al
though, to be sure, there are several
breaks In this territory. In width 1t no.
where exceeds 30 miles, and throughout
the greater portion of Its extent has Q
breadth far less. The yearly product Of
this land OF vineyard foots mp In the ag-
grsgate to fully 1900 carloads, and as the
capacity of car may be estimated at
1000 baskets, 1t will be seen that the
seasons harvest represents pretty close to
ZOO, coo baskets, each weighing about 10
pounds.
Although the harvest season is of COM
para lively brief duration, vineyard to
be made thrifty and profitable requires
considerable attention throughout the
entire year. The vines require looking
after, and the ground must be kept In
the best possible condition at all times
Vineyards rapRs In extent all the way
| from five to half q hundred acres, and in
the case Of each n packing-house 10
located at some point readily accessible
from all parts of the tract.
Despite the low prioss at which graphs
ere sold, the work Of picking 10 accounted
fairly profitable Job in the rural die
tricts. Every person around the vine
yard, including all the members of the
owners family, usually assist In prepar-
Ing the crop for market, but q majority
of the professional piokers are girls and
women. These regular p:ckers are paid
at the rate of or. cent per basket, which
Is supr5se! 20 be equivalent to at least 81
c gay. New bands are usually hired ON
the piece-work plan for obvious reasons,
while the more expert picksrs almost
invariab bly, demand 1t. Many Of the lat
ter will earn from 81 90 to 81 60 q day.
The women piokers wear short skirts,
large aprons, gloves with the thumbs out
out, and large hats or sunbonnets. As a
rule. the pickers work In pairs, each
worker giving attention to one side OF
the row of vines, so that not q single
bunch shall be overlooked. The women
sit BY the vines. either on boxes or on the
earth itself, bold baskets on their laps
and clip OFF clusters of grapes with small
sharp scissors prepared especially for the
purpose. No picking Is done in wet
| weather.
The two enemies of the Vineyards own
er are decay and destructive worms. The
former 10 not regarded as especially dan
gerouR, for the reason that the grower
can virtually prevent IL by system OF
spraying the vines In the springtims Of
Tie year. The process entails quite an
expenditure, but it is Of course economi-
cal In the long run. The worms cunsti.
tote more perplexing problem. Ihs Ad-
vent Of the worm IL OF comparatively
recent occurrence, and when the Guilt
vators have had more experience with the
peat, they may be enabled to devise
some means to eradicate the nuisance.
R.I go h. IAa
grapevines to the ground, and then bur.
rows downward, attacking the roots and
sappiDg the vitality Of the vine.
The 1880 crop Of grapes was very light
in Ohio, but proport ionately heavy In
New York state. The Improvement In
market conditions may be imagined when
II is stated that the growers received for
their grapes an average Of nearly ten
cents per basket, whereas, q year or two
ago, grapes sold at retail as low as i've
and six cents per basket.
Three large railroad systems traverse the
grape belt, and they have been instru-
mental TO q very large extent In the de-
velopmert of the TRAFFIC TO it's present
proportions. grapes cannot be transport
ed successfully In cars of the ordinary
type, but require instead refrigerator or
ventilated cars. After the loading of q
car has been completed It 10 moved to
what Is known as an icing station, where
the Ice boxes are TILED to OVERLOOKING be-
fore the car Is sealed aud sent on is
way.
Many of the grapes are shipped west
and south to points a. far away as the
Pacific coast and New Orleans, to say
nothing of all the large cities In the
country, and ID IL OF course highly essen
tial that the preparations for shipment
be made with the greatest care. Too
much heat will cause the grapes to fall
from tbs stems, and Of course any fail
ure TO get good dispatoh In transports.
tlon makes the fruit practically WORTHLESS
Naturally, nobody Wishss ca shoulder any
responsibility which belongs to someone
else, and as a consequence the grapes are
subjected to q most rigid inspection when
they are plaosd aboard the ears, and
another when the point OF unloading IL
reached.
In visw OF thsse necessities II may be
Imagined that the car famine which has
affected all industries during the latter
half OF 1899 has made Its presence felt IN
an unusual degree in the grape country.
In order 10 insure prompt dispatch, 800 or