Reports on Grapes. 



217 



hundred and ninety-six good bunches 

 on a single Ives X'ine, six year old, in 

 my vineyard the present week, which 

 will make two gallons of wine, and 

 the vineyard will average over a gal- 

 lon to the vine (on trellis). Besides, 

 Ives wine will sell, while there is little 

 demand for Concord. "We are having 

 a great revival in grape culture here, 

 a single vineyard of one hundred 

 acres, mostly Ivos; another of onehun- 

 di'ed and forty-five acres, mostly Ives 

 and Delaware, besides numerous 

 smaller ones were planted the present 

 season, and the Avork will be largely 

 increased the next season. This is 

 right, for to make a market for our 

 wines ; to make our wines popular, 

 we must make more of them and sell 

 them cheaper. Our mission is lo 

 make this a wine drinking, instead of 

 a whisk}' drinking nation, and to do 

 it, we must increase the production at 

 least two hundred fold. We must 

 bring it within the reach of all ; we 

 must make a wine good enough for 

 the rich and cheap enough for the 

 poor. We must give it to the people 

 at such prices, that the mechanic, the 

 drayman, the day laborer can have a 

 bottle of wine for his Sunday- dinner, 

 without feeling that he is scrimping 

 his famil}'. I would even make it so 

 cheap that the universal brotherhood 

 of man (and woman too) dan have it 

 for a daily beverage. Let the children 

 have it, accustom them to its daily 

 use when young, and they will never 

 become drunkards Avhen they grow 

 up. And for this we mast make a 

 light delicate Avine ; for a breakfast 

 wine, in the place of coffee. And I am 

 not sure Mr. Editor, that I would not 

 add a little suo-ar and water to the 



must, to make it light, pleasant, and 

 harmless to ladies and children. But 

 I must stop. I was going to tell you 

 what varieties we are growing, man- 

 ner of cultivation &c., but of this in 

 my next. 



There is to be a great national ex- 

 hibition of almost everything held 

 here the last of September. Grapes 

 and wine will be in order. Can't we 

 have a meeting of the American Wine 

 Grower's Association at the time, and 

 all come, and show the world what we 

 can do. Lot all bring statistics of 

 grapes and wine ; these will be pub- 

 lished with the proceedings, and go 

 out to the world. The exhibition will 

 be held under the auspices of the Cin- 

 cinnati Chamber of Commerce, Board 

 of Trade, and the Ohio Mechanic's 

 Institute. 



E. A. Thompson. 



Cincinnati, July I'i, 1S70. 



P. S. My Ives are changing color, 

 showing the purple blush ; which 

 proves the season to be at least two 

 to three weeks ahead of last year. 



[We ai-e rejoiced to hear such good 

 news from the starting point of grape 

 culture, and think it was needed, after 

 so many disastrous seasons. But 

 that a single very favorable season 

 should restore the Catawba — we for 

 one cannot believe, and think our 

 Cincinnati friends would be the last to 

 hope so, after their disastrous expe- 

 rience with that grape. We believe 

 the Goethe and Lindley will super- 

 cede it completely in a few years, 

 when they become bettor known and 

 tried. 



Concord is not slow of sale here, in 

 fact it sells faster than any other red 

 wine, and we have yet to see the red 



