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VINEYARDS AND THE ART OF MAKING WINE, 



copy that letter into your Weekly, and fol- 

 low it up with this article ; for, in all pro- 

 bability, a vast number of persons seeing 

 this, will consider it incomplete, not hav- 

 ing seen the other. The wine-growing 

 business of the South, before long, will be 

 of such vast importance, that to keep from 

 the public any information likely to excite 

 an interest in its cause, will deserve the 

 highest censure. I feel bound, therefore, 

 to share what little knowledge I have a- 

 mong those who wish it : for, giving does 

 not impoverish, nor witholding make rich. 

 I will now proceed to finish the article on 

 culture — that being the business of the 

 vigneron — before I commence wine-mak- 

 ing, or the business of the vintner. As the 

 6oil of my vineyards is rather of a tena- 

 cious kind, and of course much injured by 

 working in wet weather, I defer the last 

 spring working until the buds begin to 

 break or open, (which happens here early 

 in April with the Roanoke, but much 

 sooner with the other kinds,) for if the 

 soil is worked too early, a two-fold injury 

 most invariably follows, first it creates a 

 stimulant to the plants, and excites the cir- 

 culation of the sap, and pushes the buds 

 too forward into life, thereby exposing 

 them to the late spring frosts ; and, in 

 the second place, if worked early, the hard 

 rains in March, pack the earth very close, 

 thereby greatly retarding the growth of the 

 vines ; whereas if the work be left until 

 after, the soil remains loose and friable, so 

 that the air and light — so essential to the 

 existence of vegetation — are admitted more 

 readily to the roots, and prevent that slug- 

 gish growth that otherwise must follow, on 

 renewing the soil. When the soil of the 

 vineyard is found to be on the decline — 

 which is easily discovered by the fruit de- 

 generating in size and tenderness, and the 

 growth of the wood being much shorter 

 from joint to joint, and assuming an ash 

 grey, instead of an olive brown color — 

 where such signs make their appearance, 

 the vigneron may wi h safety apply some 

 new soil, taking care, however, to apply it 

 with caution ; for, the vine, in the vegeta- 

 ble king lorn, is far m >re intemperate than 

 man, in the animal, and it never fails to 

 co'lect all the most gross and the very 

 filthiest materials within its grasp, to gorge 



itself with ; and when it so happens that 

 such soil is placed within reach, a most 

 prolific growth of wood and foliage follows, 

 and sometimes a good show of fruit ; but 

 before the latter matures, it rots and falls 

 off. Seeing, then, that the vine is so in- 

 temperate in its desires, and that it really 

 is susceptible to every change made in the 

 soil, however trivial, much caution at all 

 times should be used when renewing takes 

 place. Rich manure should never be ap- 

 plied under any circumstances, no matter 

 however poor the land may be. My plan 

 is always to have by me a good supply of 

 compost, of well pulverized and decompos- 

 ed materials, and from one to two wheel- 

 barrows full are scattered round each vine 

 every year in the fall, and well raked into 

 the surface soil, (my vines being twenty 

 feet apart.) This plan keeps up a unifor- 

 mity in the quality of the soil, and is 

 much better than to apply a large quantity 

 at once every two or three years, which 

 acts so suddenly on the vines ; for, be it 

 recollected, although the vine is one of the 

 grossest feeders on the soil, yet it is abso- 

 lutely the most abstemious when kept in 

 proper bounds, thriving in land so poor 

 that it would scarcely sustain life in other 

 plants. 



My compost is made in the following 

 manner. Every fall, after the field and 

 garden crops are brought in, I have col- 

 lected in a large heap, three feet high and 

 six wide, all kinds of trash, such as corn- 

 stalks, potato vines, cabbage leaves and 

 stumps, chips from the wood-yard, sweep- 

 ings from the house and poultry yard, spent 

 ashes and rotten log ; and if not enough, 

 fallen leaves from the woods. When the 

 pile is made up, it lies all the fall, winter, 

 and spring. In the meanwhile a cask is 

 placed at some Convenient distance near 

 the house, which receives from day to day 

 all the chamber lye, dish-water, soap-suds, 

 and meat bones. Once or twice a week, 

 this is carried and thrown over the compost 

 heap. By the following spring, the heap 

 shrinks clown to about a foot high. Then 

 we throw on it a load of sand, (the coarser 

 the better,) for every three or four loads in 

 the heap ; the pile is then turned over and 

 mix d well together and left so until next 

 fall, but not allowed to receive any more 



