808 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



The settlement of El Paso extends from the Falls of the Rio Grande on the north to the 

 Presidio on the south, a distance of twenty-two miles, and is one continuous orchard and 

 garden, embracing within its area an indnstrioue and peaceable population of at Least eight 

 thousand. This spacious valley is about midway between Santa Fe and Chihuahua, and is 

 ited from the other Mexican settlements by the mountains which rise on the east and 

 west, and close into the river on the north and south. The breadth of the valley is about 

 ten miles. The most important production of this district is grapes, from which are annu- 

 ally manufactured not less than two hundred thousand gallons of perhaps the best and rich- 

 est wine in the world. This wine is worth two dollars per gallon, and constitutes the princi- 

 pal source of revenue to the country. Great quantities of grapes are also dried in clusters 

 and preserved for use during the winter. In this state they are considered superior to the 

 best raisins that are imported from Europe. 



The great Mustang grape of Texas is also said to be a wine grape of superior quality. It 

 grows in the greatest profusion, without cultivation, in every part of Texas, and upon all 

 varieties of soil. The wine produced from it is said to resemble port. Not alone in Cali- 

 fornia and Texas, but throughout the entire South, do native grapes flourish in wonderful 

 luxuriance. The sea-islands that fringe the coasts from Norfolk to the Florida reefs are 

 embroidered with wild vines, laden with clusters, as well a.s the margins of rivers that inter- 

 sect the mainland. Florida abounds in this delicious fruit ; in Alabama, grape-culture is 

 already exciting much attention, and the native grapes produce not only wines of most 

 excellent quality, but also a very great variety of wines. Their cultivation is very easy, and 

 the vines are abundant bearers. A gentleman, in a letter to the "Alabama Planter,'' sa\ - : 

 "A vineyard at maturity, say the fourth year, would be good for from five hundred to seven 

 hundred and fifty gallons ; the seventh, for one thousand gallons; the Scuppernong much 

 more, to the acre. Among other properties possessed by our native grape, the quantity of 

 vinous matter they possess is most remarkable. A bushel of bunches, as pulled from the 

 vine, will give three gallons of wine, and after undergoing a second operation, about one 

 gallon more of a Lighter but most agreeable wine. It would take a third pressure to pro- 

 duce the meagre drink with which, in part, they feed the peasantry in France who tend the 

 vintage." 



The woods of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas abound in varieties of wild vines that 

 .'.I'M tnasa of fruitage, renowned as raccoon, bear, bull, chicken, and fox grapes. As yet, 

 we have had no specimens of wines of these celebrated brands. One of these wild vines hai 

 been successfully cultivated already, under the name of "Bland's Madeira," and doubt 

 there are many species which, by the skill of the vine-dresser, may be made to yield an 

 agreeable variety of wines; in fact, our chief dependence must be upon our indigenous 

 grapes, tliat are already acclimated by nature's onerring training. It is well to observe that 

 a grape may produce a superior wine in one district, and yet in- of little value in another; 

 that although one species may disappoint the cultivator in Arkansas, that is no reason 

 wliy it should I"' rejected by his brother in Tennessee or Louisiana, or rice versd. 



In Georgia, the Luscious Muscadines gathered In the wild state produce a wine of con- 

 siderable merit; at yet no attempt has been made to give them s formal training, except 

 here and there upon s small scale. lids is also the eaee in South Carolina. 



North Carolina is the natal soil of the Catawba, the Berbemont, and the Scuppernong; 

 tie' first two of these nnqueetionably owe their reputation to the skill of the cultivators of 

 Ohio and New York, and have only s Limited growth in their native State; but Souppernong 

 vineyards are found from Currituck, on the extreme north, to the southern counties on the 

 Cape Pear River, and extend inland almost to she foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains; while 

 so varion- me the q ual iti e s of wine produced, that some kind- command three or (bur dol- 

 l u- per gallon, tad some kinds can be purchased for five or six dollars ■ barrel I Ti,> re are 

 fcwc spec ■ of this grape— -the i , i having ■ white, silvery skin, with a rich metallic lustre, 

 while the Inferior kind bt laU, black berry. Mr. Longworta saya, "The black Soup* 



pernong bt in from one t., four berries on a bunch, ami would, in times ej war, if lead be 

 seen valuable, even when rally ripe, as the Foa grape, for bulleta. The white Soup- 



pcruong, also, h . small Lunch, and i- a Letter grape than the Mack. But the skin 



