AGRICULTURE. 



garded as best. The To Kalon, Creveling, Adi- 

 rondac and Ionia, new varieties, have also a 

 fair reputation. The Clinton, a small grape, 

 but prolific and of fair quality, has some good 

 fruits. Loomis's honey grape, a remarkably 

 sweet, large, black fruit, has begun to attract at- 

 tention. The establishment of vineyards for 

 wine making is increasing with extraordinary 

 rapidity. For some years past the vineyards 

 on the Ohio, in the vicinity of Cincinnati, have 

 furnished considerable quantities of wine of 

 fair quality, though not well calculated to re- 

 place foreign wines. The production of this 

 wine, which was made mostly from the Cataw- 

 ba grape, has been constantly increasing. "With- 

 in the past year or two, large quantities of wine 

 from California have been brought into the East- 

 ern markets. This was at first produced from 

 the Los Angeles and Savanna, both called the 

 mission grape, varieties cultivated by the Jesuit 

 Fathers at their missions on the coast ; but as 

 the wine from these grapes was somewhat ob- 

 jectionable on account of an earthiness of taste, 

 the Catawba, Isabella, and many European 

 varieties have been introduced, and are now 

 used in the making of wines. The interest 

 in the subject in California is so great, that an 

 agent (Col. A. Haraszthy) was sent to Europe 

 to investigate the methods of cultivating the 

 grape for wine, -and the process of wine mak- 

 ing, and has published, during the last year, an 

 elaborate and very interesting report, entitled 

 " Grape Culture and Wine Making " (N. Y., 

 Harper and Brothers). The California wines 

 are gaining a good reputation. Recently, 

 also, Missouri has become largely engaged in 

 the production of native wines. The vine- 

 growers in that State are for the most part, 

 though not wholly, Germans, and the grapes 

 most cultivated are Norton's Virginia, the Ca- 

 tawba, Concord, Herbemont, and Delaware. 

 The cost of the investment for a first-class vine- 

 yard (aside from the value of land), including 

 wenching, larger root planting, stakes, posts, 

 &c., is about $400 per acre, and there are no 

 returns till the third year, when the crop should 

 be sufficient to pay the expenses of that year's 

 cultivation, and after the third year, the aver- 

 age annual value of the crop should not be less 

 than $500 per acre, and, in favorable years, will 

 be nearly or quite double this. 



Another region, in which the grape culture 

 for wine has already attained a considerable 

 prominence, is on the Lake shore and the 

 islands of Lake Erie, where the soil is ad- 

 mirably adapted to its cultivation. A large 

 proportion of the vine-growers are Canadians, 

 and the grapes principally grown are the Dela- 

 ware and Concord. At Croton Point, on the 

 Hudson, and at Georgetown, D. 0., are exten- 

 sive vineyards, from which, of late years, wine 

 of good quality has been made. 



The scarcity of cotton led to the attempt to 

 raise it in Southern Illinois, Indiana, and Mis- 

 souri, as well as in Kentucky. The frosts, al- 

 ready noticed, affected this crop severely, and 



the yield was not more than one half an aver- 

 age one. Lower down on the Mississippi, as 

 well as on the coast of South Carolina and 

 Florida, the abandoned plantations of persons 

 whfo had joined their fortunes to the Confeder- 

 atafe, were taken up, and cotton raised with 

 considerable success. The desire to substitute 

 soijsie other textile material for cotton, led also 

 to the greatly increased production of flax, and 

 the introduction of machines for dressing it 

 with greater facility and less labor, and for re- 

 ducing it to a condition analogous to that of 

 cotton. The Sanford and Mallory flax-dress- 

 ing machine, invented the year before, but not 

 introduced into market to any considerable ex- 

 tent till 1863, has already wrought a great rev- 

 olution in the formerly difficult and laborious 

 business of flax breaking, accomplishing as 

 much in one day, with the aid of two boys, as 

 could be done with far greater labor by four 

 men in five days. The attempt to produce a 

 flax cotton, suitable for use on cotton-spinning 

 machinery, though greatly multiplied during 

 the year, can hardly be regarded as successful 

 on a large scale, probably from an erroneous 

 view of the nature of the flax fibre. 



The lack of cotton has stimulated the growth 

 of wool, and the production of that staple has 

 greatly increased, while its quality is somewhat 

 improved. There are now nearly eight hun- 

 dred woollen factories in the United States, em- 

 ploying 3,000 sets of cards. The heavier broad- 

 cloths, satinets, and cassimeres, and most va- 

 rieties of woollen goods for female wear, 

 shawls, blankets, under clothing, &c., are man- 

 ufactured from American wool in American 

 factories. The finest broadcloths are still im- 

 ported, but the manufacture of woollen goods 

 has received such an impulse from the great 

 demand of the Government, that it cannot be 

 long before the American goods will equal the 

 foreign in the beauty and perfection of their 

 manufacture. The great excellence attained in 

 the breeding of sheep in this country received 

 a striking illustration at the International Agri- 

 cultural Fair, held at Hamburg, July 14th, 1863, 

 where a flock of twelve merino sheep from the 

 estate of George Campbell, Esq., of Vermont, 

 took three of the highest prizes, viz. : the first 

 prize for the buck of the best quality ; the first 

 prize for the buck yielding the greatest quan- 

 tity of wool ; and the second prize for the best 

 ewe, considering both quantity and quality. 

 These prizes were obtained in competition with 

 1,761 other sheep from all parts of Europe, 

 sixty of them being from the flock of the Em- 

 peror of the French. At the close of the Ex- 

 hibition, the twelve sheep were purchased by 

 Count Sher Thoss for $5,000. At the same fair, 

 eleven other American inventors or manufac- 

 turers received gold, silver, or bronze medals 

 for agricultural implements, including McCor- 

 mick's and other mowers and reapers, ploughs, 

 harrows, cultivators, seed sowers, fanning mills, 

 root cutters, horse powers, &c. 



The Agricultural Fairs, National, State, Coun- 



