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The Grape Gultiirist. 



Hagerstowk, Md., Sept. G, 1870. 



Mr, Husmann : 



I might as well now give you some 

 observations on our grape season here. 

 AVe have had a very warm and rainy 

 season. Our corn crop is very heavy, 

 and wheat grew rank and fell, and of 

 course the grapes suffered. Concords 

 are very abundant, although they 

 rotted much. Catawbas are a failure. 

 I find where high weeds grew or the 

 vines were on trees they are pretty 

 good. 



We are growing in this neighbor- 

 hood nearly all the grapes that come 

 out. I will notice the time of ripening 

 of some of them in comparison Avith 

 Arnold's hybrids. On August 7th, 

 Christine, Koger's No. 3, and Brant 

 became elastic in the green state. (I 

 adopted this method in order to give 

 the white grapes a fair trial.) 



August 10. Cornucopia and Canada 

 came with Adirondac, Eebecca, Ives, 

 etc. Then a few days after Autuchon. 

 Othello died the first winter. Brant 

 seems to have considerable sugar in 

 its composition, but tastes too much 

 like our little bird grape growing 

 wild here, to be pleasant. Cornuco- 

 pia has much the flavor and sugar of 

 the Alvey. Canada is the sweetest 

 and best flavored. Autuchon is not 

 yet ripe enough to pass sentence on, 

 but I fear it will lack sugar. These 

 vines grow well and stood this sum- 

 mer bravely. I believe the drawings 

 of them are correct. The Canada 

 has a beautiful compact bunch. The 

 Arnolds were grown by Dr. Harvey, 

 in town. I have several hundred 

 growing in an open poor field, and 

 they grow well, and I think they will 

 produce a better article than those 



grown in a rich soil. My Marthas 

 are quite ripe, and they turn brown 

 and rot. We have still frequent show- 

 ers and sultr}' weather. If that should 

 be common to it, it will prove a very 

 serious thing, for I think it is the best 

 white grape. John K. IIeyser. 



[The brown color which the Martha 

 sometimes assumes, is not rot, as the 

 berries still taste quite sweet, and it 

 does not injure them for wine mak- 

 ing. We think you will not find it pre- 

 valent nor very injurious. Your notes 

 about Arnold's Hj-brids are very in- 

 teresting, and correspond with the 

 experience here. — Editor.] 



ROLLA, Mo., Sept. otli, 1870. 



George Husmanx, Esq. : 



Bear Sir: — The last cold spell in 

 April killed most of the buds on the 

 vines in our county, but still we have 

 a fair crop. The must is of much 

 better quality than last year. Concord 

 averaging 78° on Oechsle's scale. Of 

 the vines planted this spring, no more 

 died than last year, although we had 

 hardly any rains since April, not 

 one hoav}' enough to wet the ground 

 through. You advise deep planting 

 of the Norton's Virginia — at least 

 deeper than Concord. Now last year 

 Judge Periy, a neighbor of ours, set 

 out 100 Nortons no deeper than six 

 inches, and all grew but five. We 

 set out the same number deep, and 

 lost about 40. Our plants were very 

 well rooted, and had not suffered any 

 when we i-cceived and planted them. 

 This year we set out 100 more of 

 very poor plants, much inferior to 

 those of last year, no deeper than 

 six inches, and we lost about eleven. 

 Another neighbor who planted several 



