The Scvppernong Again. 



175 



smile at your unfortunate predica- 

 lent. 



I did not pretend to be any thing- 

 it a mere experimenter in wine mak- 

 ig, or to have any scientific inforina- 

 ou about it. I acl^nowledge the j us- 

 ee of 3'our castigation. But if my 

 inishraent is merited, what should be 

 flicted on one who was scientitic, 

 id all the appliances &c., who after 

 mg 3-ears of experience should place 



> much sugar in his Catawba, exhib- 

 ed at the Mississippi Yalley Grape 

 rower's Society, so late as 1.S67, that 

 was condemned as too sweet, and 

 1 the ''scientific " application of the 

 ale discovered 12(3'^ I Pray how 

 uch did that lack of 1^- pound to the 

 illon. It seems his second best con- 

 ined 15" of sugar, as it averaged 

 )'^. "A little too much of a good thing." 

 ^ebruarj' number Yine Guitarist, 45 

 id 46.) 



1 must dissent from your logic on 

 ste. You say "the taste for the so- 

 died sweet wines or cordials is a 

 itural iransition from the use of ar- 

 mt spirits." ''That there is more 

 'dent spirits drank in the North 

 lan the South." Had you said " the 

 ste for strong wines is a natural 

 ansition from the use of ardent 

 >irits/' I could see the relation. If 

 le use of ardent spirits engenders 

 le love for sweet wines, and there is 

 ore ardent spirits used North than 

 )uth, the conclusion is inevitable 

 lat the people of the North have a 

 'eater love for sweet then sour 

 ines. (?) When you say that a cul- 

 vated taste readily accustoms itself 



> true wines, I say yes, and so maj- a 

 iltivated taste readily accustom itself 



to the use of sour wines, lager beer, 

 sour krout or tobacco, but 1 deny that 

 the love of these is a natural taste. 

 Nature has made the milk of all the 

 Mammalia tribes sweet, and the young 

 of all these tribes love sweet, and 

 reject sour things, hence I infer that 

 moderately sweet, such as this milk, 

 is the only natural taste, and as I 

 stated in the outset, all others 

 are creatures of cultivation, and 

 as much sense in one as the 

 other. 



I said the people of France lux- 

 uriated in Ghampagne, that is, drank 

 it as a luxury, not that the people of 

 France drank Ghampagne altogether. 

 The lower and poorer class in France 

 are compelled b}' their poverty, not 

 their love, to drink not only sour, but 

 the lowest grades of wine, Gallized, 

 and Chaptalized at that, as the lower 

 class in North Garolina (I came from 

 thei'e) drink persimmon beer, and fur- 

 ther South sweet potato beer. Gham- 

 pagne and the other higher grades of 

 wine are used only by the wealthy, 

 whether drank in Europe or America. 

 I flatter myself that I have vindicated 

 our pet in the eyes of myself at least, 

 and of my Southern friends, whether 

 in yours or not. I assure you, this 

 latter conviction is very much desired. 

 If you cannot yield in this, concede at 

 least, that there may be some good 

 sense among ever}" people, and that 

 Dame Nature may not be wholly un- 

 kind to an}' land. 



Come South next September, and I 

 will gather you some Scuppernongs 

 without a bug, and give you of my 

 little store of wine, from two ])Ounds 

 of suo;ar to none. 



