398 



STRAY NOTES ON HORTICULTURE. 



and are careless in other respects ; and they 

 find the difference when their wine is 

 brought to market for sale. There are 

 some of my own tenants who have been 

 vinedressers all their lives in Germany, 

 whose wines I never buy, and would not 

 pay them one-fifth the price I would pay to 

 other tenants. We should as soon think of 

 setting our milk to raise cream for butter 

 in a fresh whiskey barrel, as we would to 

 place our washed grapes in it, or the must, 

 after it is pressed out. 



It seems at the south, the Roanoake 

 grape is their favorite wine grape. This is 

 the Scuppernong of North Carolina. It ap- 

 pears that they, there, to make a Hock 

 wine, (a hard dry wine,) put three pounds of 

 fine sugar to the gallon of must. Here, we 

 never add sugar, unless in a season when 

 our grapes do not ripen, which is a rare oc- 

 currence. If we wished to make a syrup, 

 to supply the place of molasses, we might 

 add three pounds of sugar to the gallon of 



must, but never to make wine. See Pa- 

 tent Office Report for 1847, page 471. 

 When we commenced making wine from 

 the Catawba grape some 25 years since, 

 we drank none but Madeira wine, and sup- 

 posed none but brandy and Madeira wine 

 casks were fit to put our must in. The 

 consequence was, we destroyed the natural 

 flavor of the grape, and greatly lessened its 

 value. Yours respectfully, 



N. LONGWORTH. 

 Cincinnati, Ohio, Jan. 12, 1850. 



We are not a little obliged to Mr. Long- 

 worth, whose vineyards on the Ohio have 

 become almost a matter of national inte- 

 rest, for the foregoing pithy and concise ac- 

 count of the manner of wine-making pur- 

 sued by him, and agree that it is far pre- 

 ferable to the directions published last 

 month ; which were intended rather for 

 performing the operation in a homely man- 

 ner. Ed. 



STRAY NOTES ON HORTICULTURE. 



BY S.. PHILADELPHIA. 



Transplanting. — Small plants may be neat- 

 ly and safely transplanted from borders, &c, 

 by making narrow trenches round them, and 

 filling such trenches with plaster of paris, 

 mixed with water to the consistence of 

 thick cream. This quickly becomes hard, 

 or sets, and forms a pot, in which the plant 

 may be lifted without disturbing the roots. 

 With a little ingenuity, the soil and Toots 

 may be so encompassed, with the same 

 material, as to greatly facilitate the safe 

 removal of a choice plant to any reasonable 

 distance. 



Shade. — It is advisable to place an empty 



flower pot or basket over all newly trans 

 planted plants for a few days, removing it 

 only when the sun is warm, but not shining 

 on the plant. 



Draining Flower Pots. — Of all circum- 

 stances connected with the culture of 

 flowering plants in pots, none is more im- 

 portant and less regarded than draining ; 

 that is, putting a stratum of broken pots, 

 broken tiles, or bricks, of a soft quality, in 

 the bottom of the pots, underneath the soil 

 and roots of the plants ; potsherds should 

 be broken down till the largest does not 

 exceed the size of a small bean, — the pow- 



