A:ND WINE MAKING. 57 



sweet, and vinous, with dark-red juice, moderately juicy, 

 very rich. Specific gravity of must 118. Vine a good 

 grower, healthy, and hardy, hut does not grow readily 

 from cuttings, and will not bear much before the third 

 year, when it becomes very productive ; not liable to any 

 disease, and one of the surest we have ; will bear best on 

 spurs on old wood, like the Norton's. 



NOETON'S VIBGINIA. Synonyms, Norton's Seedling, 

 Virginia Seedling. Introduced by Dr. Norton, of Vir- 

 ginia, who found it on an island in the Potomac. Intro- 

 duced into Missouri in 1850. It caused a revolution in 

 grape culture here, as its merits as a uniformly reliable 

 grape for red wine became fully known. There is, per- 

 haps, no other grape which has given such uniform satis- 

 faction as this, and although I have warmly praised and 

 recommended it from the first, I have seen no reason to 

 retract a single word which I have said in its favor. It 

 seems to succeed everywhere, though its products, of 

 course, differ, and I had occasion to admire a splendid 

 exhibition of it at the Centennial, from Egg Harbor City, 

 New Jersey, where I first saw it, and had occasion to try 

 its wine. As made there, it has not the heavy character 

 of our Missouri Norton's, but is a very good Claret. 

 Bunch and berry smaller than Cynthiana, and not so 

 heavily shouldered ; berry small, black, with blue bloom, 

 with a very dark-colored, astringent juice, though sweet 

 and very spicy when fully ripe. Specific gravity of must 

 110. Makes, perhaps, the best medicinal wine in the 

 country; it has already saved thousands of lives, especially 

 of children suffering with summer complaint, and ac- 

 quired a world- wide reputation. Even as a table grape, 

 many prefer it on account of its spicy character, and its 

 plump bunches will keep like winter apples. Perfectly 

 free from Phylloxera and other diseases ; a strong and 

 healthy grower; bears best on spurs on old arms. As 

 it starts late in spring, it is also not liable to spring frosts. 



