Essay on Grape Culture. 



99 



Fall and winter pruning will depend 

 a great degree upon the healthiness 

 d A'igorous growth of your vines. 

 ) general rule can be laid down. If 

 u leave too much bearing wood, your 

 ipes will be small, the bunches loose, 

 d imperfect in saccharine properties, 

 too little bearing wood is left, you 

 II stimulate a surplus and unneces- 

 •y growth of wood, and will not ob- 

 n enough of grapes. Hence every 

 riet}^ of grapes, as well as locality, 

 11 teach you this, and lead you to the 

 3per treatment of your vines. Sum- 

 ;r pruning is as important, if not 

 )re so, thaii any other part of grape 

 Iture. By judicious summer pruning 

 proper times (which begins with the 

 owth of 3^our vines in the spring, and 

 ould end about the middle of July) 

 u aid materially the natural perfec- 

 )n of your grapes. Perhaps I ought 

 say artificial instead of natural, be- 

 use it is by superior knowledge and 

 t that we are led to success in grape 

 Iture. True, large and compact 

 inches of grapes are only obtained by 

 telligent and persevering industry, 

 lis work is light and agreeable, and 

 ?11 adapted for old men and women, 

 well as boys and girls, if once laid 

 )ld of in good earnest. 

 Planting. — I plant six bj' eight for 

 1 of our vigorous growers, and four 

 Y four for slow growers, and train to 

 ellises of the vines, attached to posts 

 'teen or eighteen inches apart. I use 

 h'e of the numbers ten, eleven and 

 irelve, and find it cheaper and better 

 I the long run than stakes. 

 In accordance with the requirements 

 ' your meeting,* that exhibitors should 

 lake statements of their success in 

 le past three years, in regard to the 



amount of wine made, and the price 

 obtained for the same, I will state that 

 the average j'ield of my Norton's Vir- 

 ginia was 200 gallons per acre. Con- 

 cord and Ilerbemont 500 gallons per 

 acre each. Prices obtained therefor, 

 at my home and neighborhood markets, 

 which I as 3'et was never able to suppl}- , 

 was $3 for Norton and $2 for Concord. 

 This year I am oftering my Norton at 

 $2.50 per gallon, and Concord at $1.50 

 per gallon, of which you have samples 

 on your tables. Herbemont is not suf- 

 ficiently known as yet, but believe it 

 will sell at from three to four dollars 

 per gallon. 



The following is a list of grapes under 

 cultivation in and near Mascoutah : 



Norton's Virginia, Concord, Clinton, 

 Herbemont, Hartford Prolific, Taylor, 

 Cassady, Rulander, Rebecca, Diana, 

 Minor Seedling, Canby's August, Dela- 

 ware and Catawba, Ive's Seedling and 

 Blood's Black. 



The following I consider valuable, 

 and worthy of cultivation : 1st, Nor- 

 ton's Virginia ; 2d, Concord ; 3d, Her- 

 bemont ; 4th, Hartford Prolific, as a 

 table grape especially ; 5th, Rulander ; 

 6th, Ive's ; 7th, Taylor. The balance 

 worthless, or nearly so, for our soil 

 and climate. The above named vines, 

 are planted on twelve acres of land. 



In the grape region of Jackson coun- 

 ty, at Makanda, we have under cultiva- 

 tion the following named varieties : 

 8,000 Concord, 4,000 Norton's Virginia, 

 800 Clinton, 200 Herbemont, 200 Dela- 

 ware, 1,500 Hartford Prolific, 500 Ive's 

 North Carolina Seedling, 200 Mary 

 Ann, 1,010 Eoger's No. 1, 4, 19 and 

 22, in all 80, covering about 20 acres 

 of ground. 



We think friend Eisenmeyer should 



