The Florida agriculturist., 1907-12-25
Mistakes With Grapes.

that it was not difficult to grow the
northern varieties of grapes. The only
trouble is to find profitable market
for them. Yet grapes are such
wholesome fruit and so easily grown
that we feel that every family should
have few vines, if no grapes are
ever sold, just for home USE The di-
rections given by Prof. Stockbridge
are good. To the list he gives we
would add the Brighton, grape OF
the same color as the Delaware, very
nearly equal in quality, but larger and
more prolific. The Ruralist article is
as follows.
1t is strange that the popular mis-
conception as to grape growing in the
South should be so general. Even
among intelligent Southerners the be-
lief is all prevailing that our claims to
successful grape production must be
confined to the muscadine type OF
bunchless grapes. The very people
most willing to insist on our preemi-
nence in peach growing, who laud the
Florida orange, and make great claims
for our plums, figs, strawberries and
apples, still draw the line of success at
grapes.
The greatest of all mistakes rela-
tive to Southern grape growing is this
doubt of our adaptation to the pro-
duction of grapes. Like most general
beliefs, this misconception concerning
grapes had origin in some degree of
reason. In the days before the cause
of fungus diseases was known, and be-
fore modern spraying was heard Of,
many of the thin skinned bunch grapes
were found to be particularly suscep>
tible to disease in the South. General
disbelief in Southern adaptation to this
whole class of fruits followed
With modern knowledge and present
methods for combating fungus pests,
the old misconception still fingers,
though not entirely without rational
cause.
In view of these facts, it may be ap-
propriate to preface our consideration
of prevalent mistakes in grape growing
by calling attention to few of the
facts showing the success of the in
dustry in the South.
It should be understood at the start
that by grape growing we mean the
successful production of bunch grapes.
The scuppernong, and Others of that
family, can never be considered COM
mercially, and even their recognized
value for wine making is lost in the
tidal wave of temperance reform
sweeping over the home of the SOUP
pernOng.
There are no better vineyards any
where than some of those in the hills
of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and
the Carolinas. Florida, the least dream
ed Of as grape section, had the re-
markable fortune to defeat the whole
world in wine making, by winning the
grand gold medal prize at the Paris
Exposition. The champion vintage
was sour sauterne, as unlike the
ScuppernOng beverage, usually suppos-
ed to be a typical Southern wine, as
champagne is unlike sweetened water
Location of the vineyard is one of
the most common mistakes of the grape
grower.
The wild muscadine grows naturally
about bay-heads and moist bottoms. So
cultivated bunch grapes are often set
in places carefully selected because of
being moist. No greater mistake
could be made. Excess of moisture is
fatal to success in grape growing. Dry
slopes and gravelly hillsides are the
ideal vineyard sites. It must not be
supposed that grapes do not require
much moisture; they do, but excess,
wet feet, must be carefully guarded
AGAINST