Can Grape Growing be Overdone ? 



39 



and has taken a position, which, accord- 

 ing to present experiences and the 

 present state of domestic viuology, he 

 is not able to sustain. 1 will try, by 

 reference to existing records, to sutisf}^ 

 the impartial reader, that the assertion 

 lacks every foundation. 



Wherever ray wines came in compe- 

 tition with other Illinois wines, they 

 alwa^'s stood the comparison advan- 

 tageously and satisfactorily, my Nor- 

 ton's Virginia not excepted ; and when- 

 ever and wherever Illinois wines came 

 in competition and were compared 

 with Missouri wines, they invariably 

 proved themselves to be their proud 

 equals. In proof thereof I refer to 

 the recorded transactions of the Illin- 

 ois State Horticultural Society of 

 1868; and to those of the Mississippi 

 Valley Grape Girowers' Association at 

 their meeting conjointly with the 

 American Pomological Society in 1867. 

 I could refer to other records, if they 

 were on hand or accessible to me from 

 my remote place of residence. 



If Mr. Husmann will take the 

 trouble to refer to the record of the 

 Mississippi Valley Grape Growers' 

 Association above cited, he will find, 

 that the Norton exhibited by Mr. 

 George Nestel, ^' grown on the prairies 

 of Illinois," was pronounced '• very 

 go xl," and was the best on exhibition; 

 while Mr. Husmann's three samples 

 " of the same grape grown on the Mis- 

 souri bluffs, wliirh bear (to the wine 

 grown on the prairies of Illinois) about 

 the same relative merit as the common 

 French claret when compared with 

 choice Burgundy," came out second 

 best with the predicate " good." 



Mr. JVestel is my next neighboi, iiis 

 land joins my land, his vineyard is 



distant from my vinej'ard a few hun- 

 dred steps only, it is on the same ridge, 

 with the same southern and southeast- 

 ern aspect, anil on the same soil ! 



I do not know, whether I have suc- 

 ceeded or not to satisfy Mr. Husmann, 

 that his assertions were made incon- 

 sideratel}', and that, whether the}' were 

 intended as a " puff " of Missouri 

 wines, or as a slur on Illinois wines 

 generally, or on my wines speciallj'-, 

 they are oquall}- uncalled for and im- 

 proper, and especially unworthy of the 

 source from which they emanate. 



Tiip:od. Engelmann. 



LoOKiX':.-GLASS Vineyards, Dec. 18G9. 



[We are sorry to see that our friend 

 is so much hurt by a remark which we 

 certainly neither " intended as a pufl" 

 for Missouri wines, or as a slur on Illi- 

 nois wines, or his wines specially." 

 Nothing was further from our thoughts, 

 we only spoke our deliberate convic- 

 tion, when we contended, that the wines 

 grown on our southern bluffs, will rank 

 much higher than those grown on the 

 prairies of Illinois or Missouri either. 

 We confess that we committed an 

 error in not being more general in our 

 remarks, for we think the bluffs on the 

 Mississippi, in Illinois, or similar loca- 

 tions, just as capable of producing 

 the choicest wines as the Missouri 

 river bluffs, and the prairies of Mis- 

 souri just as unable to produce the 

 best, as the prairies of Illinois. We 

 simply made a comparison and hope 

 friend Engelmann will not consider it 

 as pointing at him specially. We be- 

 lieve that Illinois can produce as good 

 wines, in the proper locations, as Mis- 

 souri; and thus hope we have made 

 the '* amende honorable," for the unin- 



