Imperial Valley press., 1910-08-06
BAILEY 10 BE NOTED
 FOR EARLY GRAPES
PomOIOgiSt HuSsman Is Sur priSed at the Growth of
 Vine Cuttings Here
says No Other Locality in California Can Compete with Imperial if Proper Varieties of Grapes are Planted and That Some Varieties Now Grown should Be Discarded.

Prof George Hussman, Pomologist, v,ho under the direction of the De- partment of Agriculture has been car rying on studies in California grape culture, and who has visited Imperial valley this season to make a thorough inspection of the vineyards here, has been talking of the grape industry to 2 Washington newspaper, and relates some facts of interest to Valley read trs. Incidentally he gives this valley 2 boost as the earliest grape district, but declares that better varieties should be selected.
 Prof Hussman is assisted by his brother, Fred L. Hussman, and by R schmidt, the former being stationed ei' Napa and the latter at Fresno.
 The first thing to do," said Prof Hussman, was to stop the spread of the Phylloxera. which has been the bane of vineyardists in other counl tres as well as in this. To do this we had to find resistant stocks. There has been no phylloxera south of the Tahachapi, where conditions seem un- favorable to it. We now have a full complement of resident stocks, and I think no harm can come from tell ing something about our work of which we have been saying very little
 We have over 900 varieties of grapes on our experimental tract of i6 acres at Oakville, Napa county, where Tokalen Vineyard Company placed part of it's lands at our dis posal. This land is on a sidehill. The experimental stations have been se- Iected with reference to geographical location as we'll as to the character et the soil and in various situations, like hill tops, valley lands, sandy areas, and so forth, so as to ascertain exactly what varieties will do best fn any given place. Of the 500 varie- tles referred, at least $50 are vinifera varjeties,-the European grape, and none Of them are resistent, to the in- sect Congeniality readings have been made in all the places where we are experimenting. We ascertain on what stocks the gratis do best Our work shows now that we are in a position tD tell the growers throughout the state just what kind of a resistent stock they require, and what vinifera variety they should graft on it to get the best results. These are the car uinal points underlying the entire grape industry on the Pacific Coast
 HUNDREDS OF TESTS
 'On my trip to California last fall, we made 1900 saccharine and acid tests of grafted stocks and the same number were made the previous fall ia 1907 We made 300 tests. These showed just where the best and choic- est fruits could be raised. We found that some grapes will ripen as much ss two weeks earlier on certain stocks tran they will on others. In Imperial county this would mean much. The grape ought to thrive there. but they are growing the wrong kind They have planted varieties which it was easy to get That is the wrong way to go about it. We would be glad to give the growers the benefit of our e.vnarianna
 lnperiai Has Great Possibilities
 some day. according to the pomo- bgist, Imperial County is bound to be celebrated far and wide for it's early g apes, and their excellent quality. He made visit 10 this region last month and he was surpcIacd at what he saw. Tie was so interested that be has plan ned to visit the Imperial Valley again at an early date. He believes no oth- er' locality n CalifOrnia-and that BIeans in the wOrld,--can compete with Imperial, given the proper yarie- tias of grapes.
 1 am free to admit" remarked Prof. Husmann, "tha- the growth ratings in Imperial valley surprised me. saw gratis two months old which had made a growth equal to that shown bg 4 graft two years old in north ern county That region is so far anead of the rest of the country that it is foolish net to grow the best va riedes. They are not doing that there now There should be an ex- psrimeRtai ststion in Imperial Valley to try out tue shipping grapes and learn what are the best kinds to grow.