Penfytvania, Philadelphia. 297 



WILD grapes are very abundant in the woods, 

 and of various kinds ; a fpecies of them which 

 are remarkable for their fize, "grow in the 

 marfhes, and are greedily eaten by the Rac- 

 coon : they are therefore called marjh grapes, 

 but the Englifl} call them fox grapes : they 

 have not an agreeable flavour, and are feldom 

 eaten by the inhabitants of this country, who 

 make ufe of a fmall kind of wild grapes, 

 which grow on a dry foil : pretty late in au- 

 tumn when they are quite ripe, they have a very 

 good flavour, being a mixture of fweet and 

 acid. Some people dry thefe grapes when ga- 

 thered, and bake them in tarts, &c. they like- 

 wife make ufe of them as dried fweetmeats. 

 The Swedes formerly made a pretty good wine 

 from them; but have now left it off. How- 

 ever fome of the Englifh ftill prefs an agreeable 

 liquor from thefe grapes, which they afliired me 

 was as good as the beft claret, and that it would 

 keep for feveral years. 



THE manner of preparing this fort of wine 

 has been defcribed at large in an almanack of 

 this country, for the year 1743, and is as fol- 

 lows : the grapes are collected from the twenty- 

 firft of September to about the eleventh of No- 

 vember, that is as they grow ripe : they muft be 

 gathered in dry weather, and after the dew is 

 gone off: the grapes are cleared of the cob- 

 webs, dry leaves, and other things adhering to 

 them. Next a great hogfhead is prepared which 

 has either had treacle or brandy in ; it is wafhed 

 very clean, one of the bottoms beat out, and 

 the other placed on a ftand for the purpofe, or 



on 



