The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-03-14

khan poor soil. though and sandy sols
made very profitable I'm Scuppernong
Grapes-
A word "a to The profit. An acre VIII
set 10 vines. AT three years old with
proper care. they should produce from
n peck to . half bushel each. At four
years old they should produce not less
than one to two bushels each. At this
thine you can still cultivate one-haif
1.-THE land. AZ seven years old you
should be getting from our hundred TO
Eight hundred bushels Per acre TAX
ling the iowest estimate. say fou hun
ltred bushels at IS cents per bushel.
(which NJ propose 10 pay for choice
grapes. you have an income OF $500 per
acre. as low estimate for each year.
Wines live To he over a hundred years
old The Old Mother Vine Is still living
Icn Roanoke Island, and IL over three
hundred years cid. and bore fruit last
year though utterly neglected. n its
roots are bare. No crop you can grow
will give such sure returns. Ten acres
hn grapes vii insure any man q steady
Income after seven years: which beats
aay life insurance policy. While &c pre-
tcuces some times larger crops than
iothers. IL never falls utterly.
To land owners who will set out vines
1--WE propose TO give contracts guarantee
ling a market at q regular and fair scale
lof prices. for Ave years or longer. they
Ito guarantee 10 sell US the crop each
year. we 10 take ali the crop that Is
gathered and offered properly at the
nearest railroad station. or at our
WINERY.
| North Carolina has, In the Eastern
Ipart OF the state. more than a million
lacres of land adapted to the growth OF
this grape. Granting that only one
lacre in each one hundred were planted
and that the minimum crop OF 400 BUSH
iels per acre were produced. and that
leach bushel produced three gallons OF
lwine, We have twelve million gallons
lof the finest wine in the world when
properly made. This is nearly half as
lmuch Is California makes. Franco
(which Is not so very mush larger than
Jour state. produces over a billion gal
lions of wine. North Carolina COULD.
liz her people only WOULD. b in this
respect the SOUTHERN FRANCE OF
lAMERICA, and could make as much
lNAlAt as rldIiNts AAC eiSaASos "a 20
lducing country in the world. We hope
Ito see the work started. II the farmers
Twill make the grapes we will try TO
make the wine and sell it.
There is no publisher treaties on
lgrape growing that is worth a cent as
applied to Scuppernong. Plant IL prop
lerly, give 1t half-a-chance, n IL will
make o rich in spite OF yourself-in-
dependent, at least. II takes a little
ltime. Do not prune IL ever, except
when necessary to keep 1t in shape while
lyoung. II cut ii bleeds and dies. or
does not thrive. Give 1t a%rborage, and
mice rich soil protected from the sun
land rains by rich loan, or woods-mould.
and 1t will grow SO fast o forget you
planted it five years before. Don't be
deferred by the five years-you have
1.-THE use of nearly all your land while IL
lis growing, and once in full bearing,
you don't want, at most over fifty acres
Ito take care OF a large family in COM
lfort-even affiuence. Even II Ii netteu
lyou only 500 per acre. and you had only
twenty-five acres, ii beats cotton or
tobacco as a money crop. Don't go IN
too big at first; plant five TO ten acres
leach year; hen the posting and wiring
don't come all at once n break you.
land you begin to get some income by the
thine expenses OF wiring becomes heavy.
I'VE advise if you purpose TO have a
Vineyard of twenty-five acres. TO set
iout five acres each year. IL you want
fifty acres set out ten acres each year.
lin five years you will be on easy street.
lin ten years you will be perfectly In
dependent. To any man who will set
|out vineyard we will give a contract
Ito take his entire product. Get near a
shipping point so you won't have so far
Ito haul your grapes. They are heavy
and must be shipped promptly after
being gathered. We have and will have
facilities to handle them as fast as the
farmers can ship them.
Yours very truly,
SOL BEAR e co.