Reports on Grapes. 



295 



[We were obliged to curtail 3'our 

 article, as it is already almost too long 

 for our columns. We would earnestly 

 request our friends to be concise and 

 practical in their communications. We 

 do not need prosy and flower}^ language, 

 but practical experience, and that in a 

 ver}' few words is generally best con- 

 veyed. 



You have evidentl}' no conception of 

 what true wine is, if you think 1^ lbs. 

 of sugar added to the gallon of must is 

 ver}^ little. This would make 50° by 

 Oecbsles' scale, if dissolved in water. 

 The average specific gravity of Catawba 

 must is 80°, which makes a normal 

 wine without any addition. To bring 

 up your Scuppernong must to 80? 

 would therefore only show 30° in the 

 must itself. No wonder people would 

 hardly believe "that spirits had not 

 been added." Fermented sugar is 

 alcohol. We would like to know what 



you would call a great deal of sugar, 

 if you call this " very little." 



You speak of its strong perfume. 

 The objection raised against most of 

 our grapes and wines by connoisseurs 

 is that they have too much aroma. 

 What then must the Scuppernong be, 

 if it can be " smelled for half a mile?" 

 Too much of a good thing dec-idedly. 



We are not afraid of fermenting wines 

 in the heat of summer if they are only 

 properly watched; and if people are not 

 willing to do this, they h;id better not 

 go into the business. We also believe 

 that few would wait eight or ten 5'ears 

 for a crop. Our people here can hardly 

 wait three years until our grapes begin 

 to bear. We sincerely wish that 'the 

 Scuppernong may prove to be all you 

 claim for it for the South, but we con- 

 fess that we cannot see it as yet, from 

 all the information we have been able 

 to gather. — Ed.] 



REPOETS ON GEAPES. 



We are enabled to present to our 

 readers quite a number of these^ from 

 different sections of the country, and 

 the summing up of the evidence for 

 and against each variety will be quite 

 interesting, and of great value to those 

 who wish to plant, and select the 

 most reliable varieties. 



We will report on the leading varie- 

 ties as far as we are able this month, 

 from this vicinity, adding what we 

 have been able to hear from Hermann, 

 and reserve the so-called fancy varie- 

 ties for next month. 



Concord has rotted considerably, 

 we think on an averao-e about one- 



third of the crop. As our crops at 

 Bluffton are nearly gathered, >ve can 

 form an estimate of the average yield 

 per acre, and find it about 4,000 lbs. 

 Most of this was, however, on vines 

 in their third summer, and not by any 

 means a full crop. It has rotted least 

 with long pruning on spurs, or laterals, 

 and on that kind of river bottom soil 

 commonly called "gumbo," a tena- 

 cious black soil underlaid by sand, 

 where the Norton's do not succeed 

 well, 



Clinton has suffered much from the 

 gall-fly, and is almost devoid of 

 leaves ; the fruit ripens unequally in 



