Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-09-03
BEAUTY AND THE BEEF
By Frederic j. Haskin.
Sept. s.-what will grapes

WASHINGTON, Sept. s.-what will grapes
sell for this fall?
That is a question which is painfully agita-
ting thousands of men who own Vineyards, some
of whom have staked their whole fortune on the
grapevine. To a less extent it is troubling all OF
the dealers and middlemen who have to do with
the distribution of the grape crop.
Prohibition has converted the growing and
selling of grapes from a quiet stable industry
into a wild and speculative one. The vineyard
list, once a peaceful and contented fellow, has
become an excited and distraught one. who al
ternate1y dreams of fabulous wealth and quakes
at the threat of bankruptcy.
The answer to the all-important question as to
what price he should get for his grapes, Tor
merly came from a few large dealers. Ninety-two
per cent of the grapes grown in America are
grown in California, and most of these are wine
grapes. The rest are raisin grapes, also grown
in California, and the Concord grapes grown in
a few eastern states and sold for table con
sumption and for the making of grape juice.
Hence the wine makers and the grape juice
makers took the great bulk Of the grape crop
every year at a fixed figure. The market was
sure and the price did not vary greatly.
When the threat Of prohibition doomed large
the grape growers saw in 1t nothing put pres
pective ruin. They fought it with all their might,
and went down to a bitter, bowling defeat. "A
year ago last spring. vineyards could be bought
for a song. Some far-Slghted men VINO nau tne
song bought a lot of them.
Fall came with a large crop of grapes. IL
brought also an army of buyers. Before prom,
bition the price of wine grapes had varied
from $40 to $40 a ton, and the price of Concord
grapes from $40 to $40 a ton. With the manu-
facture of wine prohibited by an amendment 10
the Federal Constitution, and with the manu-
facture of grape juice greatly reduced by d
high tax, grapes began to sell at iron iron s se1 q
were actually sold for as high as Sz25 a toh'
A Prohibition Miracle.
The grape grower who had sold his vineyard
tore his hair. The man who had bought II
made the purchase price on a single crop. All
concerned were reminded that they lived in a
world where the Incredible happens. Prohlpl-
ton, which was expected to render the grape
- $40 f,a AZ fhoo q nI1rd had 4CGlAI-
Nv made grapes dearer perhaps than tney hao
ever been before in human history.
sra ~ Thev we're bought by hundreds of thou
sands of persons who made wine In their homes'
1t was timated on pretty reliable torma.a
that IS per cent. of the ralsln crop aiso "eh1
into the making of hooch.
1t dawned upon the grape grower that II ne
had lost one market, he had most certainly
gained another, apparently mucn ,iat sere wa was q q a
boom in vineyards. Those that had sold 1or d
song a year before were not moved Dy AWNING
less than a symphony orchestra tnls sprlhs'
Thousands of acres were planted in grapes.
One man worth several millions has rlsked MS
whole fortune by planting about $4,000 acres.
OF course, none of these vineyards which have
just been planted will bear for three or four
years, but the crop this year has been boosted
in another way. Every. year the vines are
pruned, and the amount of grapes which a vine.
yard will bear depends upon how much WOOD.
as the grape men say, is left on the vine. II
too much wood is-left q large crop or grapes Is
pIOQuSGut u tAo N@AS
jured. This is called over-cropping. Nearly al
of the grapegrowers In the country nave over.
tremendous prices again. Even So, late spring
frosts have cut their crops from 80 10 on per
cent.
Early grapes are just beginning to move. The
bulk of the crop will not begin to hit the mar
ket until the middle OF the month.
An Uncertain Market.
Meanwhile, throughout the business, there Is
q terrible suspense. So far there have been
scarcely any sales. There is no rush or buyers
into the market such as there was last year.
What is the reason? Presumably there are just
as many home wine makers in the country this
year as last. The crop Is short, and that snoulo
make for high prices. OF course. times are a
bit hard. People have not as much money to
spend on luxuries as they had last year. And
yet it seems probable that the man who made
wine last year will make it again this year. The
evident fact that congress is afraid to pass a
law which would legalize raids on home brew
ers has presumably encouraged them.
So the question can be argued pro ana con.
The fact remains that so far there is little &C
tivity in the grape market. The probable rea-
son is that the market is a vast and unknown
one which it is impossible to study.
Formerly it consisted of a few large con-
Germs, which were sure to make wine and grape
juice and therefore sure to buy the grapes. Now
it consists of millions of individuals. who MADE
wine last year and may make it again this year.
Then again, many of them. may be too poor,
and others may have found some other way OF
obtaining the beverages they want. Nobody
knows what those millions of amateur wine
makes are going to do, and it is impossible to
take a census and fine out. Therefore grapes
will probably come into the market slow and
timidly, and the prices they fetch will be de-
termined, as the season advances, by the de-
mand for them.
A government expert, who has watched this
whole drama of the grape and prohibition, pre-
diets that the grape industry will be ruined
simply by the decentralization which has over
taken it. Men are over-cropping their vine.
yards and running them. Men are planting ano
buying vineyards as a speculation, and in bao
years many of them will fail. All stability ano
certainty have been taken out of the business
he argues.
On the other hand, 1t seems probable &c
some of that the business will tend to stabil
ize. The status of the home vintner will be
definitely settled. The experience of a number
of years will show just about how many ton!
of grapes he uses per annum. The supply will
adjust itself to the demand. New channels o.
trade will be developed. The vineyardist may
yet return to the peaceful security of an as
sured market.