The Scuppernong Grape and Its Wine. 



37 



this space, when the vines come to their 

 greatest bearing. But we, by way of 

 cultivating them, raise corn, cotton, 

 and potatoes, in the spaces for the first 

 years, which compensates, in a great 

 measure. There is another phxn which 

 I have frequentl}' suggested, and 

 which should be followed when we 

 follow nothing else, viz : plant 3'our 

 vines ten by twelve feet, and thin out 

 as they spread to crowd each other. I 

 have cultivated the Bunch Grape and 

 Scuppernong, and speak oxperimental- 

 l}', that at three years old the vines of 

 the latter will produce as manj^ berries, 

 vine for vine, as the former, whilst 

 every year after the quantity increases 

 in favor of the Scuppernong, with 

 which we have no failures nor prun- 

 ing. Dr. McII., who lives sixteen 

 miles from me, made forty gallons of 

 wine this last fall from one vine 

 twenty years old, and that after the 

 family had had free access to it for a 

 week or two. 



We may be deluded, but we think 

 the Scuppernong a Divine Gift — 



' ' Sent in the night-time ol sorrow and care 

 To bring back the joy which the South used to 

 wear. ' ' 



John H. Carlton. 



Eldorado, December 18, 1869. 



[We publish your article in full, as we 

 wish to give every one a "fair chance'' 

 to explain his views, but shall make 

 our remarks very short and concise. 

 We gather from your former commu- 

 nication that you added one and one- 

 fourth pounds of sugar to each gallon 

 of Scuppernong must. This quantity 

 dissolved in Avater would make 50* on 

 Oeschle's scale ; consequently, if the 

 Scuppernong is so very sweet, as you 

 assert, it would not be presuming too 

 much to think that its must would 



range as high as 80° average weight 

 of fair Catawba. Add to this 50° 

 would make the must range 130°. Now 

 it is Avell known to all wine makers 

 that a must ranging higher than 125° 

 can not, by fermentation, convert all 

 its sugar into alcohol, consequently 

 must remain sweet. This would be 

 exactly your case, and unless your 

 Scuppernong must contained very 

 little sugar originally, it must remain 

 sweet, or rather, cordial instead of 

 wine. Now, although we practice and 

 still advise the addition of water and 

 sugar, when necessary^ to the must, if 

 done in a rational and scientific man- 

 ner, yet this would be too much of a 

 good thing, and we say two pounds 

 is a great deal too much. There is a 

 wide difference between a rational 

 practice and an irrational one, and 

 there is a limit to all things. The 

 two cases you allude to, and the prac. 

 tice followed, is not at all similar. We 

 had no intention of " pitching in," and 

 will gladly leave you to follow your 

 practice, if you think it is perfect, but 

 you should also allow us to give our 

 views about it, and not feel offended if 

 we can not concur with you. 



You are certainly mistaken if you 

 think the French people fond of sweet 

 wines. They consume mostly red^ 

 astringent wines; so do the people of 

 Italy, and there is more champagne 

 drank in other countries than in 

 France itself. We do not know that 

 the Northern people, as a class, love 

 sour, weak wines and lager beer, nor 

 that Southern people have a fancy for 

 sweet wines of great body, and that 

 each ridicules the taste of the other. 

 The taste for so-called sweet wines or 

 cordials is a natural transition from 



