Obituary. 



135 



by addition of sugai" (syrup) in such 

 a manner as to retain the carbonic 

 acid (in well corked strong bottles). 

 After this fermentation the sediment 

 is removed, sugar is again added to 

 sweeten it, and by the absorption of 



the carbonic acid the sparkling wine 

 has been produced. This process re- 

 quires however from one to two years' 

 time, good cellars, careful and skillful 

 handling. 



[To he continued .'\ 



OBITUARY, 



Again it becomes our painlul dut}' 

 to announce to our readers the death 

 of one of the veteran grape growers 

 of the countr}', Col. John J. Werth. 

 The task is a doubly painful one, as 

 his decease also deprives us of one of 

 our ablest contributors — one so inti- 

 mately connected with the short history 

 of our Journal, as to almost justify the 

 appellation of its father ; for Colonel 

 Werth it was who first requested us to 

 publish such a journal, suggested its 

 name, and was from its start one of 

 its warmest supporters and friends. 

 Nearly every number contains an arti- 

 cle from his pen, always breathing the 

 same genial feeling, true love of the 

 grape and mankind ; clear, practical 

 and to the point. Although it has 

 never been our good fortune to meet 

 him face to face, we feel that we have 

 lost a friend, whose place can not be 

 filled again. We have before us a let- 

 ter, dated March 9, but three days be- 

 fore his death, from which we quote 

 the following : " I thank you for the 

 sympathy expressed with my condition. 

 When a man has passed his sixty-third 

 year, he can not hope to get rid en- 

 tirely of as troublesome a companion 

 as asthma, but I am much better now, 

 and hope to be more regular in future in 

 my contributions. I am much obliged 

 by the very accurate printing of my 



contributions in the Culturist, the 

 most so of the many contributions to 

 the press, political and horticultural, 

 during thirty 3^ears. This testimony 

 is due to your compositor." 



On the 11th of March, while on a 

 visit to a friend's grapery, near Rich- 

 mond, Va., he ruptured an arter}^, and 

 on the next morning at 4:30 he breathed 

 his last. 



We immediately wrote to his son, 

 Mr. John Werth, expressing our sym- 

 pathy, and requesting such data of his 

 father's life as would be of in*^erest to 

 those who had so often perused his 

 writings, and received the following 

 reply : 



KiCHMON'D, Va., April 3<1, 1870. 



Geo. Husmann, Esq., Blujfton, Mo : 



Dear Sir : Your favor of the 24th 

 ult. came to hand a few days ago. 



In complying with your request, I 

 can not do better than furnish j'ou the 

 enclosed notice, taken from one of our 

 city papers, with a few additional re- 

 marks from my own recollection of my 

 father's life. 



His first attention to the culture of 

 the grape dates, I think, from the year 

 1825, about the time of his first em- 

 barking in coal mining, an amateur 

 culturist of the grape until 1867, since 

 which time he engaged more exten- 

 sively in this line. 



In 1850 he visited California, and 

 after a general prospecting tour through 

 that State, gave to the public the result 

 of his observations in pamphlet form, 



