The grapes of New York

by U. P. Hedrick

A valuable asset of this district is its long range of season. Grapes ripen from one to two weeks earlier about these lakes than they do in the Chautauqua belt. Thus the Concords grown here are well out of the way of those grown in the Chautauqua district. The Catawba, which ripens late and is a “good keeper”, can be kept in fine condition until midwinter or later. The range of season in this district, then, is from the first part of September until February or even March.

Though there have been grape-growers’ unions for marketing the fruit of this district at various times, most of it now goes through the hands of individual buyers. An exception is the product of the large vineyards of Niagaras in Seneca County, the fruit of which is marketed with that of the product of other Niagara vineyards of the Niagara district of western New York through a union of growers.

The grapes in this district are variously trained but the high renewal system is used chiefly. In this system the head of the trunk is from twenty to thirty inches from the ground. Usually the trellis has three wires, the lowest about twenty inches from the ground and the others at distances of eighteen inches apart. New canes are brought out from renewal stubs and once in two or three years an attempt is made to bring them directly from the head of the main trunk. This system is particularly well adapted to the Catawba and Delaware so generally grown in the lake region. Thorough cultivation is practiced and the fall cover crop of oats, barley or clover is coming into favor.

It is difficult to ascertain the acreage in this district. Taking the figures of the census of 1900 and those of a canvass made by this Station in the winter of 1906-7 the acreage in the several counties is about as follows: Yates, 7940; Steuben, 5570; Ontario, 2630; Schuyler, 1014; Seneca, 1540; total 18,694. These figures are slightly larger than the estimates of grape-growers and buyers but chiefly so because they take in scattered plantations throughout the several counties. Thus in all of these counties there are a surprisingly large number of Niagara vineyards in out-of-the-way places, set during the Niagara boom of the eighties. To this Central Lakes district might also be added 500 acres of commercial vineyards in Livingston County; 250 in Cayuga and 250 in Tompkins Counties. The total valuation of the crop in this district in 1900 was $943,964.

Insects are not as troublesome in the Central Lakes district as in the Chautauqua district. The grape-vine fidia, or root-worm, one of the worst of the insect pests of the grape, is not yet destructive in this region. The grape leaf-hopper and the grape-vine flea-beetle are possibly the worst of the insects infesting the grapes about these lakes.

But fungi are more troublesome than in the Chautauqua district; probably because the climatic conditions are more favorable to the development of these pests about these smaller lakes than near Lake Erie. The five most troublesome diseases, named about in order of importance are black-rot,[106] downy mildew,[107] or “brown-rot”, powdery mildew,[108] anthracnose,[109] or “bird’s-eye rot” and chlorosis,[110] or “yellow-leaf”. Vineyards are very generally sprayed in this district and usually with satisfactory results. Grape-growers have learned that certain varieties are much more susceptible to some of the diseases than others and plant accordingly.

HUDSON RIVER DISTRICT.

The region along the Hudson River forms the third largest grape district in New York. According to the census of 1890 there were 13,000 acres of grapes in this district but in 1900 the returns gave less than half that acreage. The great falling off was due to the taking out of a considerable number of old vineyards which had been planted with too many varieties, or with worthless varieties, or in some other respect were poorly set plantations. It is doubtful whether the acreage in 1907 is greater than in 1900 but the industry is in a more healthful and prosperous condition now than then.

An estimate of the present acreage, and its distribution, made in the preparation of this work, gives the standing of the district as follows by counties: Columbia, 865 acres; Dutchess, 448 acres; Orange, 865 acres; Ulster, 4021 acres; total, 6199 acres. Beside the above there are, of course, some scattering vineyards. There are only two or three wine-cellars in the district and probably 95 per ct. of the product of the vineyards is sold for table grapes or to those who make wine in small quantities.

The grape lands of the Hudson River Valley are found very largely in the geological division known as the Taconic Province.[111] This province is a broad valley which extends from Pennsylvania across New Jersey, taking in Orange and parts of Ulster and Dutchess and Columbia Counties, then passing out of the State. The rocks in this geological division are shales, slates, schists, and limestones; and the soil is derived from these rocks. The grape lands, for most part, are those in which there is much shale or slate and in more or less coarse fragments, the finer particles being clay or gravelly loams. The district is more or less hilly, some of the vineyards being in valleys of a few acres extent, others in broad, gently undulating plains and still others on comparatively steep hillsides.