102 



The Grape Culturist. 



A WOED ON "TWO WEEKS EAELIER." 



Sonic time ago I wrote an ar- 

 ticle for the German edition of the 

 American Agriculturist, in -which I 

 drew the same conchisions at which 

 our friend from Bushbera; has arrived. 

 My positions are these : 



I. Though for table use early and 

 very early grape vaneties may be 

 desirable — for wine-making those are 

 decidedly the best which require, for 

 their full development, the whole of 

 the season, at any locality. 



II, The latter part of the season — 

 from the last week of September to 

 the second or third week of October — 

 is, in the latitude of vSt. Louis, the most 

 favorable time for making Avine. A 

 higher degree of warmth than from fif- 

 ty degrees to fifty-five degrees E. (eight 

 degrees to twelve degrees) is apt to 

 injure the must. The weather may 



be too warm for the pressing and 

 fermenting process. It may be too 

 cold, indeed, late in October; but the 

 latter evil can easily be remedied hj 

 the application of a stove. 



III. By far the fullest harvest I 

 always gain from the latest varieties, 

 such as are not yet inviting for the 

 birds, wasps and other vermin at the 

 time when those pests, favored by our 

 still hot September sun, are full of 

 life and most voracious. 



I know of no varieties that are too 

 late for Missouri (except the Scupper- 

 nong, which cannot stand our winters), 

 but I know dozens, valuable, perhaps, 

 for more northern localities, or desira- 

 ble for the table — which, however, I 

 discard from ray vineyard one after 

 another, just because of their earli- 

 ness. Fr. Muench. 



GEAPE CULTUEE— WINE MAKING, ETC 



Without fear of contradiction we pro- 

 claim that Arkansas is better adapted 

 to grape culture than any Northern 

 State, not excepting Missouri, and her 

 climate and soil are not surpassed by 

 even California. AYe have seen as 

 fine grapes grown in the State as Ave 

 have at the' East, which is evidence 

 sufficient, to our OAvn mind at least, 

 that grapes can be profitably culti- 

 vated in almost an}' county in the 

 State. And we have often Avundered 

 why, in a State as old as this one, 

 farmers have not turned their atten- 

 tion to the cultivation of this fruit 

 long ago, Avhen by practical experi- 

 ence it has been full}' demonstrated 

 that the several varieties of grapes, 

 Catawba, Concord, Clinton, and oth- 

 ers, are prolific, luxuriant in gi-owth, 



and 3'ield. AVe l)elieve that parties in 

 Sebastian coimt}' have been experi- 

 menting for some time, and when last 

 Ave heard from there the experiment 

 had proved a success, much to the 

 gratification of those giAnng the sub- 

 ject their attention. True the experi- 

 ment Avas on a small scale, 3'et, the 

 result proved that greater results 

 Avould follOAv a more extended expe- 

 riment, or a vineyard twice as large 

 Avould yield correspondingly. No 

 doul»t other parties in diffei'ent sec- 

 tions of the State have cultivated a 

 few vines ; if so, the stronger our 

 argument in favor of grape culture, 

 as Avherever the grape has been culti- 

 vated, the yield and quality haA'e' paid 

 the cultivator twice over for labor and 

 trouble experienced while prosecuting 



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