American Vintners' Song — Underd raining Vineyards. 



167 



AMERICAN VINTNERS' SONG. 



I;V FUEUEHK K Jd'EN'tU. 



[Translated from the (icrman by Mrs. Wistar ] 



riant the vine! plant the vine! — | Gather in! gather in! 



Ltt oiu- harvest now begin; 

 j Now, the purple Juice, dark, glowinj 

 I Full and free, in streams is flowing. 

 I Young and old, come, gather in. 



Gen'rous font of ruby wine : 

 In the sunlight wildly playing, 

 Richly all your toil repaying. 



AVill the smihng clusters shine. 



Eve and dawn! eve and dawn 



Still must find us working on — 

 Digging, pruning, cutting, binding. 

 Round their props the temlrils winding — 



Sweet the mete of labor done. 



Sun and air! sun and air! 



Leafy green and odors fair: 

 Then the berries — luscious treasure — 

 Fill the inmost soul with pleasure — 



Leaves and fruit, and blossoms fair. 



Then, at last! then, at last, 



Left below, our labors past, 

 Let us. o'er the mountains straying, 

 Where the Air's mild breath is playing,' 



Down the vale our glances cast. 



Hear it foam! hear it foam! 

 Surging in its narrow home. 



Let it seethe and bubble rightly. 



Till it sparkles clear and brightly. 

 Here, within its narrow home. 



Now, come on! now, come on! 



For our hardest task is done; 

 Now we pour the vines rich treasure- 

 Gods might envy us the pleasure — 



Clink your glasses, every one. 



Freedom's land! chosen land! 

 Where anew my home 1 planned ; 



Lol I drink to thee, brave nation! 



Comrades, join in this oblation — 

 Hail our chosen fatherland ! 



UXDERDRAINING VINEYARDS. 



I do not doubt but thtit the tena- 

 cious cLay subsoil of my viuo3-ai-d, and 

 in consequence thereof, the Avet feet 

 of m}' vines are the cause of the many 

 failures, Avhich I have experienced, 

 and I am seriously thinking of tile- 

 draining my vineyard, but this is an 

 expensive experiment with but little 

 guarantee that it will effect a cure. 



Do 3'ou know of any vineyard, that 

 has been materially benefitted by un- 

 derdraining with tiles ? Do not pres- 

 ent experiences tend to show that the 

 benefits derived from it are not in 

 proportion to the expenses 5* AVhat I 

 have read on this subject has been 

 very contradictory, and has failed to 

 inspire me with confidence ; of late, 

 it has not been agitated much, but 

 appears to sleep; if the Grape Cultur- 

 IST would revive it, and induce corres- 



pondents to give their experience in 

 the matter, it would be interesting to 

 many of its readers. Yours very truly, 

 Theod. Engelmann. 

 [We have had no experience our- 

 selves with underdraining vineyards, 

 as our locations have been such as did 

 not materially need it. We know that 

 ''wet feet" for vines are about as un- 

 health}' as for human beings, and have 

 no doubt that some locations would 

 be much benefitted by underdraining. 

 We would like to see that matter 

 thoroughl}" discussed in our columns, 

 giving probable cost per acre, advan- 

 tages to be gained, etc. Cannot some 

 of our readers, who have had practi- 

 cal experience, give more light on the 

 subject, than we at present seem to 

 have. It would certainly be of bene- 

 fit to many. — Editor.] 



