Grape Culture. 



235 



(having been close pruned to put it 

 ill different shape), well colored the 

 fifth of September; this year I had 

 one hundred pounds from this and 

 the other young vines, making twelve 

 gallons of wine. This seedling conti- 

 nues to ripen the earliest of any 

 varieties I have. The earliest varie- 

 ties I have, are Adirondac^ Israella, 

 Eogers No. 19, which ripen about 

 the time of my seedling. 



This year now (first day of July), 

 the vine has by actual count tw^o hun- 

 dred and thirty-six bunches; the 

 bunches are by measure three and a 

 half to five inches long, mostly shoul- 

 dered ; the vine covers the trellis nine- 



teen feet long at an average of four 

 and a half feet wide, filled with grapes, 

 which are now about the size of the 

 Delaware. Black when ripe, being in 

 size between Delaware and Creveling ; 

 clusters very compact {rather too much 

 so) ; quite tart, but leave a pleasant 

 taste in mouth after eating them. It 

 takes no more sugar for wine than for 

 Delaware; the juice is almost like 

 molasses. I have generally mixed the 

 grapes Avith my others to give the 

 wine a good coloi\ 



I have eighty vines set that will 

 bear next year^ and some 400 in my 

 grounds of one and two years old. 

 E. S. Salisbury. 



GRAPE CULTURE. 



We surrender most of our available 

 space this morning to an interesting 

 letter from Hon. Jno. R, Eakin, of 

 Washington, on the above subject, ad- 

 dressed to our fellow-townsman, Capt. 

 J. W. Martin, who has just commenced 

 establishing a vine3'ard on Big Rock. 

 It contains valuable Information for the 

 amateur grape grower, and will prove 

 an excellent guide to those who are 

 about engaging in the business of grape 

 culture. It was written as a private 

 letter of advice to Capt. Martin, but 

 Col. Eakin has since consented to its 

 publication : 



WAsmxorov, Akk , July 3, ]870. 



Dear Sir : 



I was much pleased to receive 3'our 

 letter, and find in you another recruit 

 for the thin ranks of the grape growei's 

 in Arkansas. Just here, once for all, 

 let me express the desire that you con- 



tinue to correspond with me on this 

 subject whenever you have leisure and 

 anything to say which you would be 

 prompted to say if we were sitting to- 

 gether by a fireside, I may be mis- 

 taken, but I have for years considered 

 Arkansaspar excellence a wine country : 

 better than France or Italy — as good, 

 perhaps, as Hungary — and certainly 

 better than Ohio, Illinois or Missouri. 

 Saving California, which is too distant 

 to affect us much in competition, I be- 

 lieve Arkansas is the best grape region 

 of the United States. I look forward 

 to the time (and I hope to live to see it) 

 when the grape and wine crop will ap- 

 proach the cotton crop in value, and thou- 

 sands of families will find a support on 

 ten acres each. For that reason I hail 

 every grape grower that comes to my 

 knowledge with warmth and impress- 

 ment. When I visit Little Rock, unless 



