226 



Tlie Grope Culturist. 



EDITOR'S LETTER BOX. 



TuENTOX, OuuchitM Parish, La., ) 

 June tith, isTu. ^ 



George Husmann, Esq. : 



Dear Sir : Will you allow me to en- 

 croach upon yom^ valuable time, and 

 permit the favor of an answer to two 

 questions? 



First. If the Scuppernong grape will 

 grow in and about the line of the Iron 

 Mountain Railroad or South Missouri? 



Second. If South Missouri on and 

 near Iron Mountain Railroad is at all 

 adapted lor grape culture generally ? 

 and greatly oblige, 



Yours, respectfully, 



J. R. Endek. 



[1. The Scuppernong will not ripen 

 its fruit, and its Avood is winter killed 

 nearly every year in Missouri. It is 

 entirely worthless here. 



2. Some parts of South Missouri are 

 well adapted to grape culture, and our 

 friends on the Iron Mountain RaiU'oad 

 have claimed often that the}' have the 

 best grape region in the State. We do 

 not think so, but there are certainly 

 good locations on the Mississippi bluffs, 

 and along the line of the Iron Mountain 

 Railroad. — Editor.] 



Villa Ridge, IIU , July "i, lalO. 

 GE0R(iE liuSMANX, EsQ.: 



Dear Sir : I expect to make from 

 two to three thousand gallons of wine 

 this fall, and write to know if A'ats and 

 casks used one year in a beer brewery 

 could be made sufficiently clean to use 

 for wine ? I have a steaming apparatus 

 with which I could thoroughh' steam 

 them if necessary. I can get a vat and 

 casks at about one-half the price of new 

 ones of the kind stated above. 



M}- grapes are Concord. I have 

 thought to make what white wine 1 can^ 

 and then with the balance to Chaptalize 

 say with an equal amount of must and 

 water. Is it advisable to do this ? and 

 if so, can I press the ground grapes 

 and still have white wine? or should I 

 merely drain it off? Does the must for 

 white Concord wine need any diflferent 

 treatment in fermentation from red, 

 with the exception of not being fer- 

 mented on the husks ? 



My cellar is a seven-foot house cellar, 

 and I cannot afford to build a regular 

 wine cellar this season. Is there any 

 process of air treatment b}' which I could 

 improve my wine to make it more sale- 

 able this winter? as I must sell for want 

 of a proper cellar to keep it in during 

 the hot weather. 



We have usually ver}' warm weather 

 here when our grapes ripen (about Au- 

 gust 15th to 2.ith). Should I put the 

 fermenting vat in the cellar and keep 

 up a fire heat, or would it do to ferment 

 outside, sa}" where the thermometer 

 reaches 8;"^^ to 90^' in the day and as 

 low as 50-' to GO'-' at night? 

 Yours, truly, 



A. HUIINER. 



[^"ats and casks from a brewery may 

 be used if they have not been pitched, 

 as is often the case. In that ctise, thej' 

 are not fit for wine. 



For making white wine of Concord, 

 wo would advise not to mash the grapes 

 at all. Do not let them get too ripej 

 if they aie fairly black the}' are ripe 

 enough ; throw them into the press as 

 they are, and the pressure wall burst 

 the skins and lot out the juice without 



