Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1909-04-16
THE Land OF The
Flaming TOKAY
THIS COUNTY WILL SOON BE
KNOWN AS ITS HOME
THOUSANDS OF VINES SET
w. Ii. Sherman Presented Children
Of the County With 5000
Grape Roots.

The evolution of the Flaming To-
kay is study worthy of the phil
osopher 1t was planted in a vine
yard and in due time bore its fruit
and the trade papers might have
mentioned 1t in the markets, but
locally it was entirely unknown ex-
cept to the few. Had 1t not been for
w. B. Sherman, of Grants Pass, who
admired the fruit and saw an op-
portunity to popularize 1t and at the
same time benefit his fellow towns
men, the name OF the Flaming Tokay
would have meant no more to the
average home citizen than the name
OF any good grape, Every move
ment made by the gentleman in
question was marked with becoming
modesty. He issued circulars and
published articles in the newspapers
but none OF these bore his name.
Eighteen months ago he COM
menced campaign of education re-
garding the Flaming Tokay; he initi-
ated the movement by inviting 600
business and professional men Of
Grants Pass on an automobile eX-
cursion to the vineyard Of the father
of the Tokay grape industry in this
section; returning from this excur-
sion the party were invited to ban
quet at which there were 31S plates.
The banquet over there ended the
first lesson.
Later he inaugurated an excursion
around the world" in miniature,
stations at certain points being
named after famous grape growing
centers in the old world. OF course.
as before, all the automobiles in
this section were secured for the oc-
casion, the stations were fitted up
with seats located in the shape of a
horseshoe and at the heel of the
shoe was platform for orators. On
the arrival of an automobile train
load of excursionists the passengers
were invited to take the seats pro-
vided and an orator talked to them
for ten minutes about the Tokay
grape. At the end of this period
they were invited to view the vine
yards of this supposed foreign coun-
try and by this time the second
train OF excursionists had arrived
and they Immediately took the seats
vacated and in turn listened to an
Grafton by a second speaker and
without delay the first passengers
we're loaded into automobiles and
whisked away to another foreign
country where the same ceremony
with different orators took place.
At one station was Tokay vine
with 700 pounds Of luscious Flaming
Tokay grapes growing.
At another station were lot of
four-year-old vines bearing about
100 pounds OF fruit each.
At third station there was vine
OF Mission grapes estimated "onser'
vatively to have on 1t 1900 pounds
OF ripe fruit.
AT a fourth station was a view OF
} young vineyard After looking
this over the signal for the home
ward trip was given and in so min
utes from the time OF starting this
class OF beginners In the growing
of the Flaming Tokay arrived al
their homes. They had taken an OBJ
ject lesson not soon to be forgotten
The next move was mysterioui
one and seemed to be accomplished
between two days. Along ever!
roadway throughout the county
nailed to trees, fence posts, barns
out buildings, etc, was the wore
"Tokay." Go where you would
either 10 Murphy, wIlderville. Fruit
! dale. Merlin, GalIce. Hugo, Jone
creek or any other place, that sam'
name stared you In the face !
kept people thinking about II ever,
! day and every hour Last fall whel
the Flaming Tokays came into on
local market there was scrambl
to buy them, proving that adyertis