AND WINE MAKING. 145 



CHAPTER XXXII. 



GRAPE GROWING IN SOUTHERN TEXAS. 



BY G. ONDERDONK, MISSION VALLEY, VICTORIA CO., TEXAS. 



The following extracts from several letters to the 

 author, give Mr. Onderdonk's experiences and views in 

 his own language : 



[FROM LETTER DATED JULY 19, 1876.] 

 Mr. George Husmann : 



* * * The Department at Washington sometimes gets 

 things confused as well as other people, as, for instance, 

 when it reported the " Warren " and " Herbemont " un- 

 der different classifications ; yet, I believe the Depart- 

 ment is generally correct as to names. We are all sub- 

 ject to confusion in the nomenclature of grapes. The 

 grape at one time disseminated by some as the " Lenoir," 

 and by others as the " Devereux," is the one I now send 

 out as the Black July. I have procured it from the 

 best establishments under these different names, and 

 tested their identity on my grounds. I afterwards found 

 that Berckman's, of Augusta, Ga., had a " Lenoir " grape. 

 I ordered it at once, and this is the Lenoir of my nurs- 

 ery. The Lenoir and Black Spanish, the former origi^ 

 nating in South Carolina, the latter in Natchez, Miss., 

 entirely resemble one another in foliage and habit, and in 

 fruit differ only in flavor, and sometimes, and during 

 some seasons, I almost believe them so nearly identical 

 as not to be worthy of a distinction (like the Warren and 

 Herbemont, of distinct histories, yet finally treated as 

 identical). My Lenoir, in the soil where it stands, is 

 sweeter than the Black Spanish, or rather is less acid 

 (for neither of them can be called sweet). They are both 

 excellent bearers here, and neither will rot. 

 7 



