1838] 



F A R ai K l{ S • RE G I S T K R 



74n 



'•The vin'a«ie tliis seiison hits bfeu laior iliaii 

 usual, and the proiiuce not ahuiiddiii. I'^arly in 

 the season the vines promised as well as I liave 

 e^er seen ilieni, but our season has been unusual- 

 ly cool and wet. and one hali' onr grapes dropped 

 ill tiie early pari of ii. Rly crop will fall a lii'W 

 barrels short of one hundred, buf the qualily 

 promises lo be irood. From my own experience, 

 I should d'scard the old dnclrme, of allowinij the 

 prapes to shrivel before irauierino', and coincide 

 with recent French writers, who are of opinion 

 that more is lost in the aroma, than is ojained in 

 the saccharine principle. The more so, as I he 

 latter can always be supplied, and equally jj'ood 

 with that obtained by the shriveiliiiir ol' the fruit. 

 Decidedly the Hne.«t irrapes of the, season, was a 

 small vineyard of half an acre, the property ol 

 Mr. Jacob Re.sor. 



"This vineyard is on the Ohio river, four miles 

 below the city, on the side of the hill, fully ex- 

 posed to the south. This is the first year of their 

 hearing;, and the fourth season since plantino. 

 His superior success this season is principally 

 owing to tlieir beincp younj; vines, and the <Tround 

 drv. In dry, warm seasons, even a north expo- 

 sure will yield belter. liererolbre we have planted 

 no vine nearer than five I'eet from plant to plant 

 each vvav; his are planted ihree by four. His 

 grapes are the Catawba, Isabella, and Cape, 

 (Schuylkill Muscadel.) The product of hi< half 

 acre was tweniy-fiv-e barrels of wine, ot" thirty 

 gallons per l)arrei, beini^ fiiieen hundred gallons to 

 the acre. In a recent work on the iiKuiulacture 

 of wine, by Busby, he states that Mr. Ruinan, 

 of Champaioriie, one of the laro;est proprietors of 

 vines in tiiat reii'ion, inliirmed him, ihal the largest 

 yield with them was eleven hundred pajloiis per 

 acre; yet his vines were only eii.'ht "r nine inches 

 apart one wav, and six or seven inches Ihe otiter. 



"The vine with us is less sidtjeci to injury than 

 in any part of France or Germany, in which the 

 best wines are made. They vdso complain of ihe 

 wines bftcomin<r acid and ropy, np;llier of which 

 evils have I met with in my wines. I have dis- 

 continued the cultivation of the Isabella enlirely. 

 I have made a wine from the Catawba equal, and 

 I believe sitperior to the best wines o( the Rhine; 

 but it termenis unequally, and I can never tell 

 what the (piaiity of my wine will be till snriii'i'. 

 In one instance, last liill, i drew two barrels iiom 

 the cask in which the orapes had been mashed at 

 the same time, and placed ihem side by side in the 

 wine cellar. The one was a brandy barrel, the 

 other a wine barrel; th ■ l()rmer ap[ieared to be in 

 a state of lermeniation the whole winter, was dry, 

 and not fine when ra:-Ued last spriniz'. The .latter 

 never fermented, was clear as amber, rich and 

 sweet as the moment it was drawn from the cask. 

 1 botiled it, and it has now all the fixetl air o!' 

 champaiffne, but I have kept it in an ante-room 

 attached to my ice house, or it would have burst 

 the bottles. The same is true of ihe wines of 

 Xeres in Spain; till ihe li^rmeniation is over, it i.- 

 not kniiwii whciher the wine will prove to be 

 Sherry or Amontillado. 



"I am cuitivaiinir some new native varieties of 

 grape, that are entirely tree from the hard ()ul(i 

 generally [;revalent in our native trrapes, and (()i 

 tiie table quite equal to the Ibreiun irrape; I have 

 not yet tested the quality of all of theai for wine. 

 I have one variety, resembling the Noiicn at Bur- 

 Voi. V— 94 



ii'ii; ■* . that promises to make a su|;erior Wine» 

 both red ai;d white, liul Its produce will be com- 

 paratively small. The most celeliraied of the 

 Madeira wine merchants was recenllv in our city, 

 when a boitle of these wines (red ami white) was 

 set before him, lOiietiier with two bottles of Ma- 

 deira, vpiy old, of my (jvvn importiii;.'', red (Tiiito) 

 and wiiiip. No intimaiion was given that either 

 was domestic, but a gentleman at the table re- 

 quested him to select the best; he decided in liivor 

 of the domestic. The domestic vvims .ve.rc new, 

 and I cannot say that I coinciiled wiih him in 

 o|)lnioti, but I have known others, much belter 

 judges than myeelij agree wnh him. I'lie Cape 

 olwavs makes a fair wine, and should have bran- 

 dy added in 'he spring — it is usual in all Madeira 

 wines. It orreatly improves by age, and resem- 

 bles Madeira. At Vevay, this grape is always 

 fermenied in the skin, and a red wine made from 

 it. which in my opinion is inferior to the wlfite. 

 The day is not I'.u' distant, when the banks of the 

 Ohio will rival the rivers of France and Germany, 

 in the quamiiy and quality of their wines. But 

 atler an experience of twenty-five years, and a 

 waste of time and money in thf^ cultivation of a 

 great variety of foreign grapes, th'^v confine them- 

 selves to American varieties, and the producing of 

 new varieties fi'oni their seed. 



N. LONGWORTH. 



Cindnmiti, Oct. 20ih, 1837." 



We are not a little pleased with the success of 

 Mr. Longu'orth, ;is it may induce others, and we 

 trust some even in this state, to turn their attention 

 to growing Ihe vine. Vineyards afibrd profitable 

 employment to young, and lijeble people, who 

 woultl most generally be a burthen to their parents 

 or owners, Vv'ere not some light enip'oyment pro- 

 vided for them. It appears, too, the native grape 

 is preierred, after a waste of much money, and 

 "twenty-five years experience." This again is 

 e itco I i railing, and we hope will not be forgotten. 

 A very large vineyard can be attended properly 

 by a verj' i'ew hands, ordinary hands too, till the 

 vintage, when a greater numeri(;al force will be 

 required, to trather and cull the fruit. We refer 

 all who are inquisitive on this subject, to volume 

 the lOih of this work. It is there stated, the sixth 

 of an acre produced 528 gallons — "a most enor- 

 mous crop,"' as Mr. Herhemont says, but un- 

 doubtedly made, as no one acquainted with that 

 gentleman will question his statement.* 



Mr. H. readily obtains two dollars for every 

 gallon of wine he makes, and his wines fred and 

 white) are very good; but as he does not use 

 brandy (t)Ut I'ermentation only) to give them 

 body, we are unable to express an opinion as to 

 how well, or loiiw they will keep. We will take 

 it ufjon ourselves lo say, Mr. H. will cheerllilly 

 impart the lessons of experience, to any one de- 

 sirous of profiling by them. We would seriously 

 ifiquire of the most fortunate planters of rice or 

 cotton — which of ihem ever did or can make, from 

 the iiest land and upon the m"st approved system 

 oi" culture, fifteen kiindr'-id dollars from one acre? 

 Not one! Yet that sum fat only a dollar pergal- 

 lonj) is the produce of an acre of trine on the Ohio 



* A full account of this crop was communicated by 

 Mr. Heibetnont, anfi published in the Fanners' Regis- 

 ter at page 370 of this vohune.— Ed. Far. Rec. 



