DESCRIPTION OF VARIETIES. .191 



such, tilings, give them their right names, 

 but do not call them wine. We may talk as 

 learnedly as we please about cane and grape 

 sugar, and the chemistry of fermentation ; 

 we can only make real wine from the pure 

 juice of the grape. We hope American wine 

 makers will accept this truth, and not tamper 

 with the public health and credulity. Our 

 list, therefore, necessarily excludes all grapes 

 that have large, unripe, acid centers, as well as 

 those that are deficient in the acids and sugar 

 peculiar to the grape, or in which these and 

 other vinous elements are not properly com 

 bined. American wine making is beginning 

 to assume such importance and proportions, 

 that a candid treatment of the subject could 

 not be passed over, even in an elementary 

 treatise on grape culture. There is another, 

 but small class of wine grapes, which will be 

 noticed elsewhere. 



We head the list with the lona, not alone 

 because we have tried it, but because it pos 

 sesses in an eminent degree the qualities of 

 the best known wine grapes, in this respect sur 

 passing all other American grapes. This is not 

 a matter of opinion ; it is a verified fact. On 

 a small scale we have made excellent wine 



