Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-06-20
THE PUZZLE USPUzzLED

Every year the currant grapes were z
failure The professor was about n
give up the whole thing when ne suddenly
| became encouraged from an unexpected
source An explorer Of the Department
Of Agriculture returned from China with
some extraordinary photographs Of hi
nese fora. Among them was a photo
graph Of Chinese juIube tree, which has
been cultivated by 4 Chinese farmer.
Professor Husmann looked at this photo
graph a long time It Interested him
immensely. for it showed him the cause Of
his currant grape failure.
Ii was a very simple thing when you
thought about it Just as simple as the
family teakettle which gave Watts the
idea OF the steam engine The inclsions
in the bark OF the iuilibe tree made by
the Chinese farmer were clear-cut and
deep. Professor Husmann had be-
lieved that such a deep Inclslon would
kill grape vine, but he decided TO try it.
Accordingly the currant grape vines
planted in the California vineyards were
incised after the manner OF the Chinese
jujube tree. and they have all brought
forth as fine clusters OF currant grapes as
any Greek vineyard.
This incisIng process consists Of max
ing two parallel missions through the
bark, around either OF the trunks, arms
or canes Of the vines, and taking out the
bark between the two parallel cuts. The
theory is that the sap flowing back and
forth through the tree Is suddenly checked
bv this incision OF the bark which causes
a shock TO the vine that results in its
putting forth more fruit The Importance
OF this process is shown by the fact that
one branch not incised does not WELD
fruit. while another branch on the same
vine. which has been incised, yields big
clusters.
REAL NEW INDUSTRY.
The solution Of the mystery OF currant
grape culture opens up a new industry 10
American frllit-growers. 1t is estimated
that 1000 acres of these grapes are re-
uuired to supply the immediate demand.
Few currants can be imported now, and
since the war the American appetite for
both raisins and currants has increased
enormously. owing to their high food
value Tons of raisins are now being sold
both to the army and the retail trade
Before the war. raisln grapes were produced
on a relatively small scale in this country
In 1914, for example, we were pro
ducing only 1872 million pounds and ex-
porting most of it. Now, 315 million
pounds of raIsins are produced in the
State Of California alone, and Americans
are eating nearly all of them
Because of its high sugar content the
currant-grape is also valuable for Wine
making. which is another industry that
is on the increase in this country now
that We are cut off from supplies abroad
Il is interesting to note that before the
war France, with her vineyards in Algeria,
annually produced one and three-fourths
billion gallons of wine. while Italy fol
lowed close second with one and one
half billions of gallons The United States
with all her broad area of soil suitable
for vineyards, produced never more than
one hundred million gallons This. ac-
cordlng TO information from the Depart
ment of Agriculture, was because OF our
tremendous respect for European label
For long time wines made in this coun-
try were shipped abroad for the sole
purpose OF acquiring foreign label: then
this became a bottle so the French and
Italian labels were simply applied without
the preliminary journey
Since the war, however. the foreign
label has become unnecessary We have
developed a new nationalisIn, new pride
in our own products, and there is now
tremendous demand for American wines.