176 



The Grape Culturist. 



With the best wishes for the success 

 of the Grape Culturist, Bluffton, 

 yourself, and the Scuppernong. 

 I remain yours, 



John H. Carleton. 

 Eldorado, Ark., March 15, 1870. 



[We would not have given room to 

 the above, which is of almost too 

 rambling a nature for our pages, 

 were it not that our friend considers 

 himself ill treated by us (castigated, 

 as he elegantly expresses himself) 

 and seems to think he has been very 

 severe upon us. We make it a rule 

 to publish every thing from our cor- 

 respondents, which is intended as an 

 attack or censure of our course, al- 

 though wo do not publish one tenth of 

 the letters expressing approbation of 

 it. We wish to give every one a fair 

 chance in our columns, and give them 

 leave to use us as unceremoniously as 

 they desire, whilst we intend to ex- 

 clude every thing personal against 

 any of our correspondents. This is our 

 apology to the majority of our readers 

 for the admission of the article. And 

 now a few comments on the article 

 itself. 



Friend Carleton seems to take it for 

 granted, that the Hcuppernong must 

 will have a normal weight of SO''. 

 According to statement of A. C. 

 Cook, from G-eorgia, ^'it is deficient 

 both in sugar and acid, as it rates at 

 about lO'' of the first, 4 per mille of 

 the latter," just as Ave had supposed. 

 It seems also to bo sluggish in fer- 

 mentation. So much for friend Carle- 

 ton's <' Divine gift." 



He thinks the aroma delicate. He 

 is of course at liberty to do so, and 

 we do not wish to dictate to him or 

 any bod}' else, but he must also not 



try to dictate to us, and to the thou- 

 sands of others whose taste and de- 

 finition of the term may differ from 

 him. We claim to live in a free coun- 

 try, and to have a right to our opin- 

 ion also. We do not dictate to any 

 one; we have not attacked the Scup- 

 pernong as far as we know, only we 

 do not think it perfection, and still ad- 

 vise our Southern friends to tr}' and 

 find something better. If friend 

 Carleton thinks he has reached per- 

 fection, well and good ; we wish him 

 joy of his happy illusion. If it does 

 him good to pity Northern grape 

 growers, because they have never 

 tasted his model of perfection, why, 

 it is a cheap pleasure, which we, for 

 one, Avould not begrudge him- 



We did not intend to " castigate " 

 him, nor do we knoAV what he means 

 by his remarks about the exhibition 

 of Mississippi Valley Grape Grow- 

 ers' Association, and the Catawba ex- 

 hibited there. We are not aware that 

 there w\as any Catawba exhibited 

 there, which contained free sugar. 

 But when he goes so far as to hint 

 that the saccharometer could be ap- 

 plied to wine already a j-ear old, and 

 fermented, and confounds Oechsle's 

 must scale with the imaginary scale of 

 taste of a wine committee, he shows 

 that he has not even mastered the 

 A B C of wine making, and does not 

 know what he is talking about. For 

 his edification Ave Avill inform him, 

 however, Avhat both of these scales 

 mean, and how they are used. The 

 saccharometer or must scale is used 

 to determine the specific graA-ity of 

 must, and can onlj^ be used correctly 

 before fermentation of any kind sets 

 in. The amount of alcohol in fermen- 



