AND WINE MAKING. 131 



compress one another ; dark purple or nearly black when 

 fully ripe, with pale red juice ; pulp juicy, tender, and 

 possessed of a rare, peculiar, pleasant flavor ; sprightly, 

 high quality ; seeds small, two to four. The vine is long 

 jointed and requires long pruning, to get a full crop ; 

 it will easily carry all it can be made to set. Prom- 

 ising for late market and a fine characteristic wine. 



There are a number more of my varieties that will 

 take high rank among these, but these give a fine suc- 

 cession and variety in quality, all good. 



CHAPTER XXX. 



THE CHAUTAUQUA GRAPE BELT. 



QEO. A. MARTIN, CHAUTAUQUA CO., N. Y. 



A glance at a meteorological map of the State of New 

 York, on which the amount of precipitation is indicated 

 by depth of shading, will reveal a very light streak along 

 the southern shore of Lake Erie. That strip, extending 

 from a little west of Buffalo nearly to Erie, is the Chau- 

 tauqua grape belt. Its southeastern boundary is fixed 

 by the so-called "Chautauqua ridge," a hilly range five 

 to seven miles from the lake, with an average altitude of 

 over seven hundred feet above the level of the lake, and 

 about thirteen hundred above the ocean. Lake Erie is 

 the shallowest of all the Great Lakes. Its depth is only 

 from five to eight fathoms, save around Long Point, 

 which juts out like a wing-dam from the northern 

 shore, and the channel thus restricted has scoured out 

 the bottom to a depth of twelve fathoms. This shallow 

 body of water becomes warmed to tepidity in the glow- 



