Editors' Letter Box. 



81 



BuiGHTOX, Feb. 10, 1809. 



Mr. George IIcsjiaxn : 



I was gratified to see j'ou recom- 

 mend, in the Cultukist, racking off 

 wine from the lees. There has long 

 been a tradition that wine had better 

 stand on the lees after fermentation, 

 perhaps derived from a passage of 

 Scripture. V.y experience in wine- 

 making is quite limited ; have experi- 

 mented onl}- the last two seasons ; 

 have had a good deal of practice fer- 

 menting, refining and tampering with 

 cider for thirty years, and I know 

 there is nothing so injurious to cider 

 as to allow it to stand on a bucket full 

 of nast}^ sour sediment in the bottom 

 of barrels ; it sours immediately, and 

 affects the whole. I never could con- 

 ceive why it should not affect wine in 

 the same wa^-. 



If we could learn some process b}' 

 which we could perfectl}- fine wine 

 and cider immediately after fermenting, 

 it would be one of the most useful dis- 

 coveries ever made. 



I was also gratified to hear j-ou re- 

 commend longer pruning of the vine ; 

 to leave twice as much bearing wood 

 a*? has been the common practice. It 

 is the opinion of many of the best 

 grape growers in Ohio that the Catawba 

 wine was ruined by too much cutting ; 

 I think there is truth in that; such 

 strong growers as the Concord have 

 such an immense root power . to throw 

 up sap, it requires more wood and foli- 

 age to receive and elaborate it, not 

 necessarily more bunches. I am aware 

 there is such a thing as overworking a 

 vine the present season, so as to injure 

 it for future crops. This may be rem- 

 edied by thinning the bunches when 

 small. 



I wish to ask a question : I have- 

 been fall plowing my Concord vines, 

 planted eight feet each way. In 

 plowing deep between the rows, I find 

 it cuts and mutilates the ends of the- 

 roots some ; does it injure them or not? 

 As root pruning is becoming popular 

 it occurred to me that if I call it root 

 pruning it might not injure them. 



A. A. HiLLIARD. 



[We think the excellent article of 

 Mr. D'lleureuse, which we publish in 

 this Number, will give us a method of 

 racking our wines earlier than it has 

 been done so far. The overbearing of 

 the vine can be prevented by early 

 pinching, leaving only the finest 

 bunches and most vigorous shoots. 



We have been plowing vines in the 

 fall for fifteen years, and think it a 

 ver^'' important operation. It covers- 

 all the leaves, and thus lightly' manures 

 the vines with the most grateful food 

 they can have, exposes the soil to the 

 ameliorating influence of the atmo- 

 sphere, serves as a partial protection 

 to the crown of the vine, and prevents 

 washing. We have never plowed sO' 

 deep as to lacerate the larger roots,, 

 and do not think it injurious if some of 

 the surface roots are cut at that dist- 

 ance from the vine, as they will throw 

 out smaller spongioles in spring. The 

 operation has always benefited our 

 vines very much, and, as the saying is, 

 "The proof of the pudding is in the 

 eating," we think we can safely recom- 

 mend it. — Ed.] 



Peouia, Jan. 30, 1870. 



Mr. George Husmann, Bluffton : 



Dear >S<>.— Inclosed find $2 25 for 

 your Grape Cultukist and the Ger- 

 man edition of the Zymotechnic News. 



