Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1912-06-07
GRANTS PASS, HONE Y
OF THE FLAME TOKAY
Caroline Wasson Thomson, in the
Portland JOurnaI0

known as the City of Roses, salen
the Cherry City. and Roseburg tb
Strawberry City, so Grants Pass i
destined to attain fame as the Cit,
Of Tokay grapes, Four years az,
an aggressive crusade was carried
Oh in Josephine county in the in
terast of the Tokay grape industry
Many acres of the south slopes w.r,
utilized for crap culture. This veal
the owners of these vineyards ar,
to reap a bountiful reward, for the
iour-year-old vines will bear heav
lly and all indications are for a
bumper yield, Carloads of the de
licous Tokays will be shipped from
Grants Pass next October.
Some of the three-year-old vines
of Tokays last year bore 3 to 40
pounds, the first fruit from the cru.
sade of 1908, while from the vine
yard of Mr.. Butts, two crates, or 90
pounds, were picked from a small
number of four-year-old vines. As
the grapes sell for about $1.75 a
crate, it is a low estimate to calcu-
late that there will be value of 81
from every vine more than four years
old. Tokays are planted feet
apart, 535 vines to an acre. By the
best of care it is thought that ST.
900 an acre may be made from these
vineyards, as five crates to a vine is
the quantity that has been picked
from many vines in Grants Pass.
Sherman Leads Movement.
w. B. Sherman, of Grants Pass, is
a pioneer in the Tokay grape indus
try in Josephine county. 1t was Mr..
Sherman who first called attention
to the peculiarly suitable location for
grape culture on the hill lands. From
1902 to 1907 he noticed on numer-
GUS drives through the l,ogue river
valley that the grape vines were do
ing especially well. He found that
the Applegate vineyard of 40 acres,
the only vineyard handled CONNER
cially in the vicinity, was paying at
the rate of $500 to $500 an acre, al
though the fruit was sent by express
to Portland. He then conceived the
idea of exploiting the grape indus
try and covering the well adapted
south slopes with vineyards.
Investigation proved that there
were thousands of acres especially
adapted to the growth of grapes in
that section. The hill land is best
for grape culture, as the vines need
thorough drainage of soil, and good
air drainage. All foothills that can
not be reached with irrigation, are
excellent for grapes, whose roots al
ways pierce down to the moisture.
This rough, dry land is especially
good for grapes, while practically
useless for other crops. Having set
tied this point Mr.. Sherman next be-
gan to study the kind of grape best
suited to the locality and decided to
try the Tokay,
Conditions Are Ideal.
Mr.. Sherman gives the reason of
his choice in this statement The
Tokays impressed me as the most
healthy, rugged vines, the best pro-
ducers and the highest priced grape
on the market. found it the best
table grape, and most sought for all
over the United States. The Tokay
is a dry climate vine, therefore the
Rogue river valley is peculiarly
adapted to its growth from combin-
alton of soil and absence of excessive
humidity. It has been grown in two
localities in California, but no other
place in the United States except in
a small way near Lewiston, Idaho. W
The grape campaign conducted by
Mr.. Sherman included automobile
trips to the Applegate vineyard
paign by spending three days in TAX
ing between 600 and zoo people from
Grants Pass 9 miles to the Applegate
farm. This trip was conducted by
the use, of three automobiles, a ma
chine leaving the city every 40 min
utes. At the vineyard the passen-
gers were shown about and a 20
minute lecture on grape industry
given.
The Famous Grape Banquet
Two weeks following the automo-
bile trips Mr.. Sherman gave a l.
course banquet at which 51S plates
were served All the leading men
Of the town were his guests the