The Importance of Proper Soils for Certain Varieties of Grapes. 159 



THE IMPORTANCE OF PROPER SOILS FOR CERTAIN VARIP:TIES 



OF GRAPES. 



Friend Husmann : 



Some time ago you advised a friend 

 to read the Grape Cultuuist instead 

 of your boolc, wliich you considered 

 out of date, or rather say antiquated. 

 At that time the idea struck me as 

 something singular tliat a book of so 

 recent a date as yours should at so 

 early a day become to a certain extent 

 worthless, 3'et such is getting to be my 

 own experience, that doctrines, notions 

 or opinions that I held and advocated 

 a 3'ear or more ago, I now entirely 

 repudiate. Such is the fact with 

 American grape culture, and ever will 

 be, at least for many years to come. 



For instance, we all held out the 

 idea that the Concord was the grape 

 for the million, and the most suitable 

 for general, or say universal cultivation ; 

 the latter 1 still admit, but not the 

 former position. As a wine grape, the 

 Ives will certainly supercede the Con- 

 cord, and if the Goethe, Lindley, and a 

 few others, are only one-half as good 

 as is claimed for them, they certainly 

 will supercede both the Concord and 

 the Ives, because it is a white wine 

 that we want to supply the present 

 demand. Allow me here to remark 

 that I have none of the above named 

 varieties to sell, but am engaged in 

 planting them for trial. 



At our lust annual meeting I spoke 

 of the Herbemont as a valuable wine 

 grape, which certainly it is. Its excel- 

 lence as a fine and prolific wine grape is 

 certainly beyond all controversy^ but it 

 is a wide and open question, where shall 

 we plant it? Certainly not on level 



land, not on clayey hillsides without 

 an admixture of lime in the soil, not 

 on overly rich land anywhere, and not 

 much north of the latitude of St. 

 Louis. My very promising half acre of 

 Herbemont vineyard seven to eight 

 years old has not only not brought me 

 a bunch of grapes last season, but has- 

 not a cane of good ripe bearing wood^^ 

 and I am now engaged in planting the 

 same ground with Goethe. Now, 

 while my Herbemont vineyard is an 

 entire faiUue, many others are entirely 

 successfu', and none perhaps more so 

 than our friend Dr. Dewey, from 

 Keytesville, Mo. 



It is evident that the most success- 

 ful part of grape culture is not alone 

 in the knowledge of how to prune and! 

 trim the vine, but also the selection of 

 suitable locations, formations and natu- 

 ral compositions of mother earth before 

 we commence setting out vineyards. 



What I have said of the Herbemont 

 is equally applicable to Delaware and 

 Maxatawney ; and so nice is this dis- 

 tinction, that these varieties that are a 

 failure with me, are proving to be very 

 valuable with some of my neighbors 

 and friends in other parts of the 

 county. The difficulty is easily ex- 

 plained when properly investigated. 

 There is no lime in my clayey soil, 

 while those of my successful neighbors 

 own land which is strongly impreg- 

 nated with lime, and perhaps other 

 valuable ingredients, which so essen- 

 tially contribute to perfect certain 

 peculiar grapes, and which gives a cer- 

 tain fine and highly appreciated aroma 



