The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-01-06

white grapes. and the James Grapes
produce q heavfsr yield. as q rule. and
require q heavier character of soil.
MOI stiffness though not too stiff.
Coco soil will produce better results
than poor soil. though any sandy soil
| In Eastern North Carolina can be
made very profitable In Scuppernoa-
/ Grapes.
A word as to the profit. An acre will
set I'D vines. At three years old with
proper care. they should produce from
a peck to a half busheI each At four
years old they should produce not less
ina one to two bushels each. At this
| time you can still cultivate one-haIf
the land. At seven years old yoa
should be getting from four hundred 10
eight ndre bushels per acre. TAX
ing the lowest estimate, say four hun
dred bushels at IS cents per bushel,
which we propose to pay for choice
grapes, you have an income OF $500 per
acre. as a low estimate for zach year.
+. vines live to be over a hundred years
old. The Old Mother Vine is still living
on Roanoke Island. and is over three
hundred years old. and bore fruit last
; year though utterly neglected. and Its
i roots are bare. No crop you can grow
VIII Civ such sure returns. Ten acres
IN grapes will insure any man a steady
income after seven years; which beats
any life insurance policy. While 1t pro-
duces some times larger crops than
others, it never fails utterly.
To land owners who will set out vines
we ropos to give contracts guarantee
ing a market at a regular and fair scale
of prices. for five years or longer, they
to guarantee to sell us the crop each
year, we to take all 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: h state, more than a million
acres of land adapted to the growth OF
this grape. Granting that only one
acre in each one hundred were planted,
and that the minimum crop of 400 bust
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
properly made. This is nearly half as
much las California makes. France
which is not so very much larger than
our state, produces over a billion gall
Ions of wine. North Carolina COULD.
if her people only WOULD, be in his
respect the SOUTHERN FRANCE OF
AMERICA, and could make as muct,
wine as France, the greatest wine pro-
ducing country in the world. We hope
to see~the work started. If the farmers
will make the grapes, we will try to
make the wine and sell it.
There is no published treaties on
ora no Or0urinO that ic worth a cont aC
applied 10 Scuppernong. Plant it prop
erly, give it haTf-a-chance, and it will
make you rich in spite of yourself-in-
dependent, at least. It takes a little
time. Do not prune it ever. except
When necessary to keep it in shape while
young. If cut it bleeds and dies, or
does not thrive. Tive it arborage, and
nice rich soil protected from the sun
and rains by rich loaTl, or Woods-mould,
and it will grow SO fast you forget you
planted: it five years before. Don't be
deferred by the five years-you have
the U.s.: of nearly all your land while it
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 af1uence. Even if it netted
you only 800 per acre, and 0 had only
w cl1ty-lNc dCISS, IL DCalo SoLSohA VI
tobacco as a money crop. Don't go in
too big at first; plant five to ten acres
each year; then the posting and wiring
don't come all at once ard break you,
and you begin to get some income by the
time expenses of wiring becomes heavy.
We advise if you purpose to ave a
vineyard of twenty-five acres, to set
out five acres each year. If o want
fifty acres set out ten acres each year.
In five years you will be OF easy street,
if ten years you will be perfectly in
dependent. To any man who will set
out vineyards W. will give a contract
to- take his entire product. Get near a
shipping point so you on have so far
30 haul your grapes. They are heavy
and must be shipped promptly after
being gathered. We have and will have
have facilities to handle them as fast
as the farmers can ship them.
Yours very truly,
SOIL BEAR & CO.