Prospects of the Grape Crop. 



239 



[This communication from our valued 

 friend had been accidentally mislaid at 

 our office, hence the delaj*, for which we 

 ask his pard(m. AYe have, since writing 

 our first paper, to which Mr. Hecker 

 refers, had an oppoi-tunity to convince 

 ourselves of the great influence soil and 

 •aspect will have on that grape, and, we 

 believe, on all of our varieties. The 

 wine we have made from the Rulander 

 grown at our former vineyard, (and to 

 which we referred in that article,) on 

 an eastern slope, always had a sherry 



character and color. Wine made from 

 the same grape by Mr. Kuhn, just above 

 Hermann, and only two and a half 

 miles distant from our vineyard, but on 

 a southern aspect, which we have since 

 tasted, is the most delicious ichite wine 

 we ever tasted, and comes as near to an 

 exquisite Rhenish wine as anything we 

 have ever tried. We believe that soil 

 and aspect have as much influence on 

 the character of wines here as thej' have 

 in Europe. — Ed.] 



the prospects of a very abundant crop, 

 which, we are sorry to sa3% have since 

 been considerably impaired by the very 

 unfavorable weather in the Western 

 States. The incessant rains, inter- 

 mingled with hot, sultry weather, and 

 murk}^, close atmosphere, could not fail 

 to produce all diseases to which the 

 grape is subject, and which have in 

 some locations almost entirely de- 

 molished the crop. From the neigbor- 

 hood of Peoria, 111., we hear that 

 nearly the whole crop is ruined. In 

 the neighborhood of Hermann, the 

 Catawba has suff'ered ver^^ much, and 

 those whom the two last extremel}^ 

 favorable seasons have induced to plant 

 the Catawba again, now see to their 

 distress, that it is as unreliable as ever. 

 Varieties which were entirely exempt 

 from disease formerly, have this season 

 shown at least a trace of it, and the 

 only varieties entirely exempt, which 

 we have seen, are the Cynthiana and 

 Hermann. Even the Nortons has 



PROSPECTS OF THE GRAPE CROP. 



shown a few rotten berries, the first w^e 

 have ever observed on this long tried 

 variety, but it is not enough to mate- 

 rially diminish the crop. 



Here in our neighborhood we have 

 made the following observations, and 

 we only hope that our friends from 

 abroad will send us theirs, to enable us 

 to give a full report of this important 

 crop. 



Slightly affected by rot, but not 

 enough to damage the crop : Norton's 

 Virginia, Clinton, Goethe, Ives, and 

 Delaware. 



Damaged b}' rot, so as to lose about 

 one-fourth of the crop : Concord, Ta}'^- 

 lor, Hartford, Herbemont, Berks, 

 Lindley, Cunningham. 



Badly affected : Catawba, Wilming- 

 ton, Massasoit, Merrimack, Agawam, 

 Marion, Union Village. 



Norton's Virginia shows an enormous 

 crop, such as we have never seen 

 equaled yet, especially' in a piece of 

 sandy bottom land ; and those who still 

 consider this grape unproductive, had 



