Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 October 1908 — Raised Some Fine Grapes. [ARTICLE]

Raised Some Fine Grapes.

R. C. Dowler brought some fine grapes to the Republican office that’ we do not think are often excelled in the tropical grape growing countries. The ones he brought in are of the White Niagara variety, and they show the possibility of grape growing in this country if the same attention is given to their cultivation that is given in countries where special attention is given to their production. Four years ago Mr. Dowler planted three cuttings, two Concord and one White Niagara, and this year he picked four bushels of grapes from the Concord vines and one and a half from the White. The grapes are in mammoth bunches, each grape is large and free from blemish. The grapes on each stem have ripened uniformly and are the sweetest we have ever eaten. In November of each year, after the sap is all out of the vines, Mr. Dowler trims them clear down to the trunk vine, and In the spring the vines sprout out healthy and strong and the strength that would have been wasted in the old sod wplus limbs passes into the fruit For b table grape the white kind that he raised are equal to almost any grape shipped in here from California, and the other varieties of white grapes could probably be raised here just as successfully with proper attention.