108 



The Grape Culturhi. 



must wine be treated to weigh it 

 with Oechsle's scales, etc., etc. 

 I am, respectfully yours, 



Ed. Eoelfs. 



[You ask a good many questions all 

 at once, but we will try to answer 

 them to the best of our ability. 



If you do the pinching early enough, 

 you will have no trouble in getting 

 good strong eyes at the base of bear- 

 ing shoots, which j^ou can cut back to 

 two or three buds. That is the plan 

 we follow, but we do our pinching 

 early enough, so as not to stunt the 

 development of the shoot, and we 

 iiinch every shoot on the arm. When 

 pruning, we spur in the strongest, 

 and cut the weakest out entirely. 



The sample of soil you sent us, we 

 should call clay, mixed with sand, and 

 as far as we can judge, from mere de- 

 scription, would call your soil good for 

 Norton's Virginia. But "the proof 

 of the pudding is in the eating." If 

 you can make first class Norton wine 

 there, it is better proof than all sup- 

 positions. If you send us a sample 

 of the xcine made on your soil, wo can 

 tell you, we trust, whether it is good 

 or not. 



We can only see a difference be- 

 tween deep digging and deep plowing 

 in favor of the latter, as it pulverizes 

 and mixes the soil more thoroughly. 

 If you prefer the extra labor of 

 working with the spade, why we do 

 not pretend to censure you. "Every- 

 body to his liking," as the old lady 

 said when she kissed the cow. We 

 prefer to do our work on a cheaper 

 plan, if we can do it as well or better 

 by it. 



The straw will not hurt your vine- 

 yard, but we think you would do well 



to turn it under with the plow this 

 spring. It will then serve as manure, 

 the only benefit we can see in it. 



When we weigh must, we bring it 

 to a temperature of about 6.5 deg.; it 

 need not be filtered, but should of 

 course have no skins or seeds of 

 grapes suspended in it. Wine, to 

 weigh it with Oeehsle's scale, should 

 be fully wine, which means that it 

 should not contain unfermented sugar, 

 and be clear. Then have it at about 

 the same temperature as the must, 

 65 deg.; unscrew the small weight at 

 the bottom of the soale, which is left 

 on in weighing must, and the wine 

 scale 1 — 12 will indicate the degrees. 

 —Ed.] 



Saxdusky, Feb. 7, 1870. 



Friend Husmann : 



My Dear Sir: Enclosed you will 

 find two dollars, subscription to your 

 valuable paper. Please excuse me 

 for not writing sooner — have been so 

 busy. 



I was an oflicer of the Ohio Grape 

 Growei's' Association; have attended 

 every meeting since they discarded 

 wine, and will state to 3'ou that at 

 every meeting of the society wine has 

 been introduced, drank in the com- 

 mittee room, and in public and pri- 

 vate ; there was no such thing as 

 keeping it out. 



I was also present as an officer of 

 the State Horticultural Society when 

 it was merged, as they called it, into 

 that society. 



The truth of the matter is, it was 

 a funeral, and they held the wake at 

 friend Ohmer's, Dayton, Ohio. His 

 beautiful mansion was kindly thrown 

 open on this important occasion, with 



