The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-01-27

more stiffness though not too stiff.
Good soil will produce better results
than poor soil. though and sandy soil
in Eastern North Carolina can be
made very profitable in ScuppernOns
Grapes.
A word as to the profit. An acre VIII
set no vines. At three years old with
proper care, they should produce from
a peck to a half bushel each. At four
years DID they should produce not less
than one 20 two bushels each. At this
time you can still cultivate one-hah
the land. At seven years old you
should be getting from four hundred TO
eight hundred bushels per acre. TAX
ing the lowest estimate, say four hum
6red bushels at Is cents per bushel,
which we propose to pay for choice
grapes, you have an income OF 5000 per
acre. as low estimate for each year.
vines live to be over a hundred years
old. The Old Mother vine il still living
on Roanoke Island, and is over three
hundred years old, and bore fruit. last
year though utterly neglected, and its
roots are bare. No crop you can grow
will give such sure returns Ten acres
| in grapes will insure any man a steady
/ lIlcOIut dlLtI SSsth yCHio, "A
| any life insurance policy. While it pro-
duces some times larger crops thali
| others, it never fails utterly.
To land owners who will set out vines
we propose to give contracts guarantee
| ing a market at a regular and fair scare
| Of 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 our
winery.
North Carolina has, in the Eastern
part of the state, more than a miilon
acres of land adapted to the growth Oh
this grape. Granting that only one
acre in each one hundred were planted
and that the minimum crop of 400 BUSH
els per acre were produced, and that
each bushel produced three gallons OF
wine. we have twelve million gallons
of the finest wine in the world when
nroperIv made. This is nearly half as
much as California makes. France
which is not so very mush larger tnaH
our state, produces over a billion gar
Ions of wine. North Carolina COULD
if her people only WOULD. be in TINS
respect the SOUTHERN FRANCE Or
AMERICA, and could make as mucf
wine as France, the greatest wine pro
ducing country in the world. WE hope
to see the work started. If the farmer!
will make the grapes, we will try u
make the wine and sell it.
There is no publisher treaties OF
grape growing that is worth a cent a
!, applied to Scuppernong. Plant 1t prop
erly, give it half-a-chance, n II VII
make you rich in spite OF yourseif-hn
dependent, at least. It k a HUI
!, time. Do not prune 1t ever, excep
when necessary to keep 1t in shape Whli
, young. If cut it bleeds and dies, o
:. does not thrive. Give it arborage, an
, nice rich soil protected from the su
:. and rains by rich loan, or Woods-mouis
and it will grow so fast you forget yo
. planted it five years before. Don't o
= deferred by the five years-you nav
the use of nearly all your land Whlie
is growing, and once in full bearing
YOU don't want, at most over n1ty acfe
to take care of a large family in con-
- fort-even a%ff1uence. Even if it nette
YOU only 500 per acre, and you hao On
- twenty-five acres, it beats cotton {
tobacco as a money crop. Don't go
too big at first; plant five to ten acre
each year; then the posting and Wlrln
=, don't come all at once and break yo
-, and you begin to get some income by II
- time expenses of wiring ecomes hea'
~ We advise if you purpose to nave
-, vineyard of twenty-five acres, to s
- out five acres each year. II you wa
fifty acres set out ten acres each yea
- In five years you will be on easy stree
" in fen wears YOU will be perfectly Il
A dependent. To any man VINO VIII >
out vineyard we will give a contra
- to take his entire product. Get near
shipping point so you won't have SO L
to haul your grapes. They are hea'
~ and must be shipped promptly aft
- being gathered. We have and Will ma
- facilities to handle them as fast as t
-, farmers can ship them.
Yours very truly,
SOL BEAR & 90