244 FLORIDA FRUITS GRAPES. 



an ordinary plant, but the sap flows out, drop by drop, 

 until the vine dies for want of nutriment. Recently, how- 

 ever, one of those happy accidents, by which so many dis- 

 coveries are made, revealed a remedy, certain, and easy of 

 application. A strong, thrifty vine having been burned by 

 its frame catching fire, the owner cut it back to about 

 eighteen inches from the ground. The vine at once began 

 to bleed, and its death must have speedily followed had he 

 not bethought him of charring the cut end ; a lighted 

 torch was applied, but for a day afterward the sap con- 

 tinued to drip, though slowly; by another charring the 

 cure was completed and the vine saved. 



The vine, if it has grown with its usual vigor and thrift, 

 should bear the second year from the layer that is, the 

 first season on the canopy; of course it does not bear 

 very heavily, it has as yet neither root nor branch enough 

 to make much of a crop, but with each year's growth the 

 yield increases rapidly. 



Old vines frequently bear thirty bushels of grapes, and 

 in vineyards of fifteen to twenty years' standing, single 

 vines often yield from fifty to seventy-five bushels. 



A bushel of grapes, weighing about sixty pounds, yields 

 three to four gallons of wine, and from the pomace that 

 remains after expressing the juice no inconsiderable amount 

 of vinegar can be made. 



The following are the several varieties of the Bullace or 

 Vitis vulpina grapes. 



SCUPPERNONG. 



Bunches seldom composed of more than eight or ten 

 grapes ; grapes large, round, bronze color when fully ripe ; 

 skin thick, flesh pulpy ; very vinous, sweet, and of a pe- 

 culiar musky aroma ; exceedingly pleasant and refreshing. 



Matures from middle to end of August. Fruit has 

 never been known to decay before maturity. Vine is free 



