316 



The Grape Culturist. 



vines, from which ten thousand pounds 

 of grapes and twelve hundred gallons 

 of wine were made this year, many of 

 the vines being but one 3'ear old. 



J. M. Sterling has a vineyard at the 

 dock, of three acres, half of which are 

 in full bearing, principall}^ Concords. 

 From these over 800 gallons of wine 

 were made, besides a great many 

 grapes otherwise disposed of. The 

 average is about fourteen pounds of 

 grapes to the gallon of juice. A large 

 number of new vineyards were started 

 this year, and will soon swell the yield 

 of grapes in the county to a much 

 larger figure. These are owned as 

 follows: S. P. Williams, three acres; 

 I. Van Wormer, three acres ; E. Phil- 

 lips, two acres; Morrison Paulding, 

 five acres. Besides these there are a 

 number of smaller ones, all bearing 

 more or less, of which no statistics 

 have been obtained; many cultivating 

 the fancy vai'ieties to the number of 

 eighteen or twenty. 



In regard to the manufacture of 

 wine, there are course but two meth- 

 ods, which are made as suits the tastes 

 and judgment of the vintner. Should 

 he desire to make a white wine, the 

 juice is pressed directly from the 

 grape without previously "mashing" 

 the pulp and skin, which produces a 

 delicatel}" tinted wine, but not so 

 strong as that by the other process, 

 which consists in grinding the grapes 

 to a pumice and allowing them to thus 

 remain until fermentation ensues, 

 which it does in from four to eight 

 days, the length of time depending 

 alcogether upon the weather, the 

 warmer the weather ot course the 

 shorter the time required. This is 

 then pressed out and stored in five 



hundred gallon casks, in the large 

 cellar, having a capacity for many 

 thousand gallons of wine. As they 

 are nearly all alike, a description of 

 one of the cellars of the Point au Peau 

 Wine Co. will suflBce : They are built 

 of solid stone, fortj^ feet long by 

 twenty-two wide, nineteen feet walls- 

 with thick lining, between these walLs 

 au air chamber of about six inches 

 intervening, insuring against damp- 

 ness. The floor is formed, also, with 

 a view to exclude all dampness, hav- 

 ing first a thick layer of cement formed 

 of waterlime and hay thoroughlj' 

 mixed, upon which rests a flooi'ing of 

 one and a-half inch pine plank laid 

 upon strong timbers and joists. This 

 forms a strong, dry and roomy vault for 

 the storage of the wine, but the rapid 

 development of the business will soon 

 require many more of them. Aside 

 from the magnificent profits of the 

 investment, the culture of grapes is 

 certainly one of the most agreeable of 

 all out door pursuits. The ground 

 once prepared and the roots set, the 

 cultivation of them becomes a pleas- 

 ure, and when the big bunches of 

 luscious fruit gradually deepens in 

 color, as they ripen, and acquire the 

 rich purple and soft red tinge, the 

 patient watching and careful training^ 

 and pruning seem to be ampl}* repaid. 



A summary shows that though the 

 average age of the vines is a little less 

 than four years, and a large propor- 

 tion being two to three years, the 

 yield this season has been over 250,000 

 jDOunds of grapes and 18,000 gallons 

 of wine. 



There are now planted upwards of 

 one hundred acres of vines, twenty or 

 thirty of which were set last springs 



