Correspondence. 



107 



you have the courage and liberality 

 to come fairly up to this high stan- 

 dard; to stand well balanced and self 

 assured upon the platform you have 

 there laid down, then, gentlemen, 

 matters will run smoothl}', so far as 

 jow and your correspondents and 

 contributors are concerned, however 

 some of our Grape Growers and "Wine 

 makers in the different and far distant 

 sections of our country may differ. 



And thus, having "■ deseiwed," you 

 can contidentl}' count iipon eminent 

 and continued success. That this, your 

 new enterprise, so auspiciously under- 

 taken in anticipation of the wants 

 and demands of the thousands, who, 

 firmly believing that we possess the 

 elements, have resolved to make this 

 delightful and '^Heaven blessed" cul- 

 ture a success, may prove a success, 

 even far beyond your present expec- 

 tations, is the earnest wish of your 

 humble correspondent, who, for lack 

 of proper instruction, though long an 

 ardent and ever sanguine worker in the 

 vineyard, has accomplished less than 

 might otherwise have been performed 

 within a comparatively brief period. 



With great joy I hail, and, at tlie 

 highest pitch of my feeble voice, am 

 prepared to echo the " glad tidings" 

 by you, at the dawn of this A. D. 1869 

 proclaimed, that henceforth the earn- 

 est, hopeful, happy cultivators of the 

 vine are to have a ftiithful represen- 

 tative, a journal all their own, to ad- 

 vocate and sustain their united in- 

 terests, to make known their desires 

 and intentions, and to hasten the 

 end of their earnest and united labors, 

 viz : to make America pre-eminently 

 a Grape and Wine growing country. 



And now, brethren of this exalted 

 fraternity, one and all, let us renew 

 our zeal, and with redoubled vigor 

 and increased earnestness, 'jpush on" 

 to the accomplishment of this grand 

 achievement. 



United and reassured, let us go on 

 in our "labor of love," trusting in Ilim 

 who dispenseth "the dews of Heaven" 

 and the "fatness of the earth," and — 

 to the well deserving, "plenty of corn 

 and wine." 



I hope by the end of this — its first 

 3"ear, the tiRArE Cilturtst may have 

 not less than twenty thousand names 

 upon its "list;" and that, expanded in 

 volume, and still more enlarged in 

 usefulness, it may go on to the suc- 

 cessful accomplishment of its high 

 mission. AV>r. Griffith. 



North East, Pa., Feb. •2r>, Isffll. 



P. 8. I most heartily concur in 

 the suggestions of .your correspondent 

 John J. Werth, in his remarks regard- 

 ing the propriety of all correspondents 

 affixing their proper signature to com- 

 munications addressed to their brother 

 cultivators through the columns of 

 your Journal. 



l^o the minds of grape growers, even 

 of limited experience, the gravest rea- 

 sons are readily suggested for this ra- 

 tional, good old practice of the "Fath- 

 ers," whose simple habits, as it seems 

 to me, were better calculated to keep 

 duplicity and morbid selfishness in 

 abeyance, than our studied habits of 

 marked dissemblance. 



Our AuiCrican culture is, as yet, in 

 its infancy, and hence our work is so 

 largely experimental, that it is of the 

 utmost importance that all should pos- 

 sess the means of knowing M'hat each 

 has accomplished, and to what extent 



