246 THE VINEYARD. [MARCH 



the wisdom and goodness of the Creator in furnishing plants with 

 those accommodating powers; but the vine has manifested itself in 

 so many, and so universally, that it is unnecessary to recapitulate 

 them ; yet we frequently meet with people who say "it will never 

 succeed here ! !"* 



It may, however, be proper to remark, that where the peach-tree 

 perfects its fruit in open field culture, so will the vine; the latter is 

 even capable of bearing greater degrees of heat, and of producing 

 fruit in perfection in higher latitudes than the former, manifested by 

 the quantity of wine made in many places in the south of England, 

 from its productions in open vineyard culture; whilst there they could 

 not have a single peach from a thousand trees cultivated in the same 

 way, principally owing to the want of a sufficiency of summer heat 

 to ripen the young wood; and mild as their winters are, in compari- 

 son to ours, they, under such circumstances, generally destroy the 

 pithy and unripened shoots of the peach, without doing near so much 

 injury to those of the vine. On the other hand, it is well known that 

 the grape-vine will bear fruit abundantly, year after year, when forced 

 in pine stoves, with pine-apples, where, if a peach was introduced, it 

 would scarcely survive one season ; at least it would not produce a 

 single fruit worth eating the second. 



Before entering on the general culture, I shall give a short descrip- 

 tion of the varieties of the grape hitherto cultivated in Europe, either 

 for making wine, or for the table; many of which are now under 

 trial at the Spring-Mill Vineyard, within fourteen miles of Phila- 

 delphia, the property of a company incorporated by the legislature 

 of Pennsylvania, "for the promotion of the culture of the vine," and 

 under the superintendence of Mr. Peter Legaux, an experienced vine- 

 dresser, and a gentleman of worth and science. 



These I shall divide into three classes, in the order of their ripen- 

 ing. 1. Those which ripen earliest. 2. Those which succeed them; 

 and 3. The latest coming to maturity. Perhaps the first class might 

 be best adapted for the more immediate culture in the eastern States; 

 the second in the middle ; and the third in the southern States. But, 

 experiments on all the kinds that it is possible to procure, should be 

 tried in each State of the Union ; giving, at the same time, suitable 

 soil and situation to each class, according to their periods of ripen- 

 ing; that is, to give the latest kinds the warmest exposure, &c. 



FIRST CLASS. 



1. The "White Frontinac, or Muscat Blanc, is a high flavored grape, 

 and has a peculiar rich juice when perfectly ripe; the bunches are 

 large, and the berries, which are round, are very closely joined to 

 each other, whereby some of them in wet seasons are apt to rot before 

 they are ripe, which, in some measure, is owing to the thinness of 



* Notwithstanding the sanguine expectations of our author, it has now 

 been proved by experience that the exotic grape will not thrive and grow 

 to perfection in our changeable climate, excepting in the most favored 

 localities. 



