144 



The Grape Cultiwist. 



fruit, and a surety, free from all ex- 

 press charges, seftoiul-liand comiiiis- 

 siou men, and bargaining hucksters, 

 whose return Idlls al\va3'S have so 

 many drawbacks, tiiat the grower has 

 little for his labor. It is a point, 

 thei-efbro, to him wlio is fust planting 

 to think twice ere he selects his vari- 

 ety, as to what and how and where- 

 fore the money is to be obtained from 

 his outlay of labor, time and hrains. 

 [We agree with our correspondent 

 in the main, though we may differ in 

 some of the minor points. We think 

 every grape grower, when he jilants 

 his vineyard, should seriously con- 

 sider the qualities lor wine of the 

 varieties he plants, so that should the 

 market fail him, he can make them 

 into wine. With a judicious selection, 

 and this object in view, grape growing 

 ■can not be overdone. Ever^- grape 

 grower should at once, from the start, 

 have this in view as a last resort, 

 even if he should prefer, in good sale 

 seasons, to market his grapes. Wme 

 growing is not so profitable or easy 

 as our correspondent thinks. Tlie 

 wine maker needs cellar room, casks, 

 press, etc., all of which, however 

 simple, require some means; he must 

 wait longer for his returns^ and if he 

 counts interest, loss by racking and 

 evaporation, etc., he will find that he 

 will do better to sell his wine at 

 gevent^'-five cents, throe months after 

 making, than at a dollar a gallon 

 when it is fifteen months old. More- 

 over, he wants his cellar room, casks, 

 etc., again, and unless he has plent}' 

 of capital at his disposal, ho cannot 

 afford to Avait, cspociall}' if the mar- 

 ket is declining constantly, as it has 

 been the last three years. We have 



a remedy for this in centralization or 

 concentration of grape intei'ests, 

 which we have so long and so often 

 advocated, and which we have put 

 into ])ractice here. 



These thoughts are principally 

 thrown out for the consideration of 

 our readers. It is an important sub- 

 ject, and we should like to hear the 

 views of others about it, >Send them 

 in friends, and let us discuss the mat- 

 ter thoroughly. — Ed.] 



Lookixo-Glass Vixeyakds, ) 

 MAscorTAii 1'. O., III., Feb. 22, lS7(i. \ 



Geo. Husmann, Esq., Bluffton, Mo.: 



Dear Sir: I feel that I owe you 

 an acknowledgment and my thanks 

 for the good humor and friendly 

 spirit in which you answer m}' rather 

 rough vindication of Illinois as a wine 

 producing State and of its wines. I 

 suppose its soil in different localities 

 varies as much in its natural compo- 

 sition and in the elements of fertility 

 as that of Missouri, and even in our 

 prairies these variations are not less 

 remarkable than in hills and wood- 

 land, and I can see no good reason 

 why not, in our pi-airies, locations 

 might be found as much adapted to 

 the cultivation of the grape and pro- 

 duction of win 3, as in hills and wood- 

 land. I agi'ee with you, that on good 

 farming land — on land on which the 

 cereals prosper — vines should not be 

 planted, because they succeed equally 

 well, and even better, on land more or 

 less unfit for other agricultural pur- 

 poses. In this respect I have com- 

 mitted a mistake in selecting the site 

 of ni}' vineyard. The gentle slope 

 on which ni}' vines grow, can be cul- 

 tivated with the plow as easily as any 



