272 



The Grape Culturist. 



well ripened, and no disease. The}" 

 were all properly pinched in May and 

 June. Grapes are fine everywhere, 

 nearly, throughout the West, except 

 the Clinton, which is a failure here, 

 though it may do better with you. — 

 Ed.] 



Wasiiin'gton, Ark , Sept. 4, 1870. 



Friend Husmann : 



Notwithstanding the terrible frost 

 of last Easter our grape crop has not 

 been an entire failure. There was a 

 third of a crop of Concord and 

 Catawba, about half a crop of Herbe- 

 mont, and nearly a full crop of Nor- 

 ton's Virginia. As a general rule, 

 the earlier grapes suffer most. We 

 require for profit those varieties which 

 put forth sluggishly in spring, and 

 ripen late. Leaving out of view the 

 Scuppernong (to which most of the 

 grape-growers of our section specially 

 incline,) my experience, so far, has 

 indicated Norton's Virginia and Cj-n- 

 thiana as the best of the varieties 

 yet known upon which to base our 

 hopes of successful wine-making in 

 our latitude. 



Usually our long summers, how- 

 ever, develop the highest qualities 

 of many other varieties for eating. 

 Martha has been eminently successful, 

 never having yet rotted nor failed to 

 ripen to a most luscious sweetness. 

 Indeed, this will turn out, I fear, to 

 be the only objection to the Martha. 

 It is perhaps too sweet, and may come 

 in time, after the novelty has worn 

 off, to be less estimated than the more 

 sprightly, but less cloying Maxa- 

 tawney. The Delaware has fully sus- 

 tained its original promise. It has 

 kept its foliage well, and the fruit has 



been free from disease. Goethe has 

 not ripened well, never acquiring even 

 a pink color; besides having suffered 

 especiall}' from curculio, and losing its 

 leaves, more than I think wholesome. 

 It must be borne in mind, however, 

 that the season has been in every 

 respect an exceptional, and very 

 disastrous one. We have had no 

 drought — little weather, indeed, that 

 we could call dry even. It has rained 

 incessantly since May, and our grapes 

 went on to the last stage through 

 constant deluges of showers. This 

 was strikingly apparent in the must, 

 which was so weak that gallizing 

 became, a necessity, if we ai'e to have 

 anj'thing else than vinegar. I made 

 wine of the Catawba and Norton's^ 

 but could not this year risk either 

 without a liberal supplj^ of sugar. 

 I suppose the same thing would have 

 been apparent in the Concords, but 

 being in demand, from their size and 

 appearance, I allowed them all to be 

 sold for eating at 25 cents per pound. 

 "The millions-" are governed hj ap- 

 pearances, and not over critical in 

 taste. They go in for a big things 

 and the Concord fills the bill. 



I am this year thoroughl}' satisfied 

 of two things which I had cause to 

 suspect long ago. I have been all 

 my life planting too close, and prun- 

 ing too short. Our vines require the 

 treatment of the south of Europe — 

 barring the trees, which I cannot 

 think good for a vineyard. Our canes 

 will bear festooning along the tops of 

 the trellises, and show healthier and 

 finer fruit than if kept back to spurs 

 on arms, or short canes, fan fashion, 

 on the lower parts of the trellis. 

 This results from our loni;:; seasons 



