Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-07
Table Varieties May Revive
Demand Checked by
Prohibition.
U. S. AGRICULTURAL MEN
STUDY FOREIGN CROPS
Alfalfa and Melon Seeds From
Turkestan and Persia Collected
by Investigators.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

BY THOMAS II. HENRY.
It's a long call from the conquest OF
Spain by the turbaned Moors, more
! than 200 years ago, to the twentieth
| century American breakfast table-and
prohibition.
But there happens to be such a close
connection between the two that the
Department of Agriculture has just sent
Prof. F. T. Bioletti, one of the foremost
American authorities on grape culture,
to the homeland of the Moslem hordes
in North Africa.
The Moors were grape growers. Ac-
cording to the dictates of Islam they
presumably were total abstainers. For
generations in the hot African valleys
| they had been growing grapes primarily
for eating instead of drinking.
Brought Choicest Varieties.
When they conquered Spain they
brought with them some of their
acclimatized in the new country the
conQuerorS retained and improved dur
ing the 500 years Of their occupation
After the Moorish dynasty was over
thrown these grapes remained side by
side with the Spanish wine grapes OF
in scattered monastery gardens.
Almost 800 years later the Spanish
were pressing westward through the
forests and deserts of a new world, the
padres with their crosses and fruit trees
following hard in the path Of the con-
quistadores. They brought with them
the seeds and cutting of their table
grapes some of which, at least, they
had inherited from the Moors.
More centuries passed. The twentieth
century found California, where the
padres had developed their monastery
garden agriculture, the home of the
table grape. 1t was an important In
dustry. Varieties had been greatly i'm
proved. but the stock remained funda-
mentally that which had been brought
to Spain by the MoorS.
California also was interested in an
other type Of grape, primarily adapted
for making wine. Vast vineyards were
established. Then came prohibition
ruin. Even the widespread home
wine-making industry only f1ared ur
temporarily and then subsidized.
Grapes became glut on the market
A partial solution seemed to be the
development of the grape as a table
fruit, along with the raisin and I'M
fermented grape juice industries. But
there was not much variety in table
grapes and they were too seasonal.
Many Varieties Left Behind.
Now the Moors retained in Spain
only those varieties which did well in
the Spanish environment. But the old
varieties of grapes continued to grow
on in the isolated villages, unknown
to the rest of the world.
In recent years travellers in Morocco
have happened upon delicious grapes
of varieties unknown in America. They
thrive in hot valleys similar to those
of California. Some of them, it /.
believed, may be equal to any present
day American grapes and at the same
time bear much earlier. So Prof
Bioletti is combing the country fol
every variety of grape he can find to
bring back and test in the Unitec
States.
ApricotS to Be Sought Out.
Another fruit brought to Spain b.
the MoorS, and thence to America by
the SpaniardS, was the apricot. It i
likely that choice varieties were lef
behind in North Africa, which, in the
Southwest, will bloom ahead of thu
brown rot infestations. the bane of tn,
apricot growers. Discovery of theSt
Is the secondary object of Prof. Bio
letti's explorations.
ALCACdoulH hccP'
ing the balance of American agricul.
ture Is responsible for another expedi.
ton which has just returned from
Turkestan and Persia. H. l.. Westovel
of the Office of forage crop investiga.
tionS and w. E. Whitehouse of TIT
Office of foreign plant introduction
probably were the first men on an Off.
cial mission from the United State:
Government in Soviet Russia.
Turkestan is the home of alfalfa
There are to be found wild varieties
and some under cultivation. OF latt
years queer disease, the alfalfa wilt
mer. 1t strikes quickly and ruins &
crop. In some areas in the Middle
West alfalfa production has been cut
down as much as go per cent. But
right in the middle of some of the worst
infected belts are fields of alfalfa which
remain immune. The seed with which
these fields were planted, it was learn.
ed, came from Turkestan.
Alfalfa and Melons Studied.
Westover brought back seed of sew.
eral hundred kinds of alfalfa, some OF
which, 1t is hoped, will produce immune
crops. It will probably be crossed anc
recrosSed with popular American va
rieties in the hope of obtaining a high
producing type free from disease.
Better melons for the American ia
BILE may result from the work of Mr.
Whitehouse, who secured TurkeStan anC
Persia for wild and cultivated varieties
growing there. He also collected va
rieties of pistachio nuts and various
fruits which are found in the mountain
valleys and which may possess qualities
of value to American agriculture.