The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-03-21

than o soil, though and sandy sol1
IN Eastern North Carolina can be
made yery profitable in SSuppernong
Grapes.
A word as TO the profit. An acre WI
set Ito vines AT three years old with
proper care. they should produce from
= peck 20 4 half bushel each. At four
years old they should produce not less
than one to two bushels each. At this
time you can still cultivate one-half
the land. At sever years old you
should be getting from four hundred 20
eight hundred bushels per acre TAX
ing the lowest estimate. 81 four hum
cred bushels a IS cents per oushel.
which sc propose TO pay for choice
grapes. o have an income OF 500 per
acre. as low estimate for ZACH year
Vines live to be over n hundred years
cid. The Old Mother vine Is still living
CT Island. and IL over three
hundred years old. and bore fruit last
year though utterly neglected, and Its
roots are bare. No crop o can grow
viii give such sure returns. Ten acres
IN grapes vii Insure n mar q steady
income after seven years: which beats
any life insurance policy. While IL pre-
cuces some times larger crops han
others. 1t never falls utterly.
To land owners who viii Sc, out vines
we propose TO give contracts guarantee
ing a market At q regular and fair scale
% prices. for five years or longer. they
TO guarantee TO sell Us the crop each
year.. we to take ali the crop that Is
gathered and offered properly at the
nearest railroad station. or At u
winery.
North Carolina has. in the Eastern
part OF the state. more than q million
acres OF land adapted 10 the growth Of
this grape. Granting that only n
acre in Zach one hundred were planted
and that the minimum crop OF 400 BUSH
els per acre were produced. n thar
each bushel produced three gallons OF
wine, we have twelve million gallons
Of the finest wine in the world c
properly made, This is nearly half As
much as California makes France
which is not so very mush larger than
our state, produces over a billion gai-
Ions of wine. North Carolina COULD.
Ii her people only WOULD. be in this
respect the SOUTHERN FRANCE OF
AMERICA. and could mak as much
wine as France, the greatest wine pro-
ducing country in the world. We hope
TO see the work started. 10 the farmers
will make the APES we viii try to
a the wine n sell Ii.
There is no publisher treaties on
grape growing that is worth a cent as
applied to Sc~uppernong. Plant IL prop
erly, give 1t half-a-chance. and II viii
make you rich in spite of yourself-in-
1anan1ans 0f 1AnGf II takes n little
time. Do not prune 1t ever. except
when necessary to keep 1t in shape while
young. II cut it bleeds and dies, or
does no: thrive. Give Ii ~arborage. and
nice rich soil protected from the sun
and rains by rich loan, or woods-mould.
and it will grow so fast you forget you
planted 1t five years before. Don't be.
deferred by the five years-you have
the use % nearly all your land while IL
is growing, and once In full bearing.
you don't want, at most over fifty acres
to take care of a large family In. COM
fort-even afiuence. Even IL 1t netted
you only 500 per acre. and you had only
twenty-five acres. It beats cotton or
tobacco as a money crop. Don't so In
too big at first; plant five TO ten acres
each year; then the posting and wiring
don't come all at once and break you.
and you begin to get some income by tho
time expenses of wiring becomes heavy.
We advise IL you purpose 20 a
vineyard OF twenty-five acres, to set
out five acres each year. II you want
fifty acres set out ten acres each year.
In five years you will be on easy street,
in ten years o will be perfectly In
dependent. To any man who will set
out vineyard we will give a contract
TO take his entire product. Get near a
shipping point so you won't w SO far
to haul your grapes. They are heavy
and must be shipped promptly after
being gathered. We LAY n will have
facilities to handle them as fast as the
farmers can ship them.
Yours very truly,
SOL BEAR e CO.