450 
of Scuppernong grapes weighs 60 pounds, and will yield 4 to 44 gallons of 
juice, after which the pommace will make five gallons of vinegar: ‘T’o the four 
galjons of juice add four pounds of crushed sugar, and at the end of six months 
you will have 33 gallons of good marketable wine, worth on an average $2 50 
per gallon. The five gallons of vinegar will yield at the end of three months 
45 gallons of first quality vinegar, worth 50 cents per gallon, thus realizing from 
one bushel of grapes $11; from one vine, in full bearing, $275; and from one 
acre of 21 vines, $5,775. The expenses attending the production of this wine 
foot up nearly $800, and for the vinegar $125, leaving a profit of about $4,850 
on the product of the acre of vineyard. 
The Scuppernong is the most profitable grape in the world, but is known 
only in the south, especially in the Carolinas, as the summer seasons of the 
north are not long enough for its successful cultivation. In the Carolinas it 
grows on the poorest sand hills, on the lowest swamp lands, and on stiff, clay, 
gravel land, the last named being the best for it. This grape has grown wild, 
without care or effort to improve it, but last year I gave this subject special 
attention, and found the vines highly susceptible to improved cultivation. 
The vine must be planted well rooted. Dig a hole four feet square and two 
feet deep. ‘Throw the first foot of earth on one side, and the second foot on the 
other side. Throw the first foot of earth back into the hole, then all up to 
within six inches of the top with good compost, and then spread the roots of 
the vine out carefully, and fill the hole with the same compost, about three inches 
above the surface, trampling it level with the surface with the feet. Fasten the 
vine.to a pole about three inches thick, and eight feet above ground, put in 
when the vine is planted. During the first and second years, when the vine is 
sprouting, all side limbs should be pinched off smooth, the main stem only being 
allowed to grow up. Keep the main stem well fastened and straight, and raise 
it about a foot higher than the pole, and then allow the sprouts to spread out in 
all directions on a 12 feet square arbor. I used last year, instead of slats or 
rails on the arbors, telegraph wire, spread over like a sifter, about two feet square, 
with surprising results. The vines grew twice as much ‘as those of the same 
age on wooden arbors, and the grapes ripened more equally, and one-third more 
in quantity. The wire arbor costs little more and will stand 30 years when 
galvanized. ‘The sun and air strikes better through the wire, and the vine will 
grow much faster than when 6n the slats or rails, the little ringlets which sprout 
out from the vines winding around a small thing more readily, and thus keep 
the vine steady and assist growth. 
The third year the vines must be manured and every three years thereafter. 
For this purpose dig a ditch around the vine (so far as the little roots reach) one 
foot wide and one foot deep. Fill the ditch half full of compost and then fill 
up with top soil. The manuring should be done in December or January, as 
summer manuring makes the vine rusty, and causes the fruit to drop off before 
ripening. Raw stable manure should not be used, but should first be composted, 
mixed with any soil. The cheapest and best is swamp muck, and if you wish 
to make it as rich as guano, mix with it bone-dust, ashes, and lime, and about 
10 per cent. of stiff soil. 
Unlike all other grape vines the Scuppernong does not need to be pruned 
back. After the grapes are gathered take out all the dead limbs, and cut off all 
ringlets, for they are destructive enemies of the vine when wound around the 
limbs, preventing full growth, and sometimes killing the limbs. The outside end 
limbs, of last year’s growth, should be straightened and spread out on the arbor in 
all directions and fastened. This is an important work, as without it the vine 
will grow wild and tangled, and the limbs be prevented from spreading, in 
consequence of which some of the fruit will never be reached by the sun or air, 
the sugar in the grape will not get a chance to concentrate, and the grapes will 
fall off before maturing. 
