174 



The Gra'pe Gulturist. 



THE SCUPPEENONG AGAIN. 



Editor Grape Culturist : 



In your comment (Feb. number) on 

 my reply, you say "1 gather from 

 your article that you put 11 pounds 

 of sugar to the gallon of Scuppernong 

 must " &c. That is what I said. 

 "That W pound sugar to the gallon 

 of water raises it to 50'^ Oechsle's scale, 

 that the Normal average of Catawba 

 must is 80° and that if Scuppernong 

 must averages 80'^, my 1] pound sugar 

 made a must of 130'^." In this I think 

 you are very near correct, for it had 

 great body, and by most palates it was 

 pronounced sweet. 



You very correctly 8a3' that 2 

 pounds of sugar to the gallon of must 

 makes a cordial. Last fall I added 

 various quantities from 2 pounds to 

 none. That with 2 pounds is liter- 

 ally a cordial. That Avith none fer- 

 mented well. Seems now of fair 

 body. '■^Scents " well, but is too sour 

 for mine and most other tastes. 



Now I do not claim perfection for 

 the vScuppernong as a wine grape even 

 here. Nor do I expect nor even wish 

 to convince you, that it will pay so far 

 North. But if we have in it a grape 

 whose must averages 80'^ Oechsle's 

 scale, the normal average of the 

 Catawba — and a grape free from dis- 

 ease, a certain annual crop; one that 

 requires little labor and skill in cul- 

 tivation, (by reason of which one hand 

 can attend to as much as three with 

 you) and last though not least, an 

 aroma, the most refined and delicate — 

 we have cause to be proud of it. 



The Byington plan of cultivating 

 the bunch grape is in part the plan on 

 which we have always cultivated the 



Scuppernong. Thus 30 by 30, or 32 

 by 32 feet, and cultivating the spaces 

 in peas, potatoes or cotton until the 

 vines and scaffolding pretty well cover 

 the ground. I suggested in the Feb- 

 ruary number, without having seen 

 the Byington plan, that we might ob- 

 tain a large crop much earlier from 

 the ground, by planting 15 by 15 or 

 12 by 15 feet, and thinning out as 

 they spread. 



We novices admit you to be a great 

 teacher in the art, and permit you to 

 even use the rod in proper cases ; but 

 we rebels and perhaps friend Engel- 

 mann, think you a little too dicta- 

 torial at times — too much of the^'^o 

 et Dominus ! 



I am not offended in the least, and 

 would not offend for any thing, but it 

 seems to me that yOur attack on the 

 Scuppernong grape is hardly fair or 

 candid. You do not pretend to have 

 ever seen or tested Scuppernong must 

 in your life. Nor to have tasted the 

 fruit but once, and that you say you 

 raised, which must have been at Her- 

 mann, too far North. Then I regret 

 that you were very unfortunate your- 

 self and the grape equally so, that you 

 got a bug in your mouth with them. 

 Your style of attack may mislead 

 grape Culturists of the North, who are 

 unfortunate in two respects, first in 

 never having tasted a jserfectly mat- 

 ured Scuppernong as grown in its na- 

 tive South; and second, after having 

 well tilled their mouths with luscious 

 Easpberries or Strawberries, discover 

 they have a bug involved also. But 

 to those who have tasted it in its per- 

 fection your attack will only produce 



