326 



The Grape Gulturist. 



took to run a farm as well as a vine- 

 yard. A few of the Nortons received 

 good cultivation and three pinchings, 

 the others only one. The bunches on 

 the few were the most compact ; but 

 the less pinched had the most and best 

 wood for next crop. From 1200 vines 

 — sold and gave away 1500 pounds, 

 nud made 850 gallons wine. I prob- 

 iibly lost one or two hundred gallons 

 by letting the grapes hang till late in 

 October. 



Finished gathering on the 27th. 



The must stood 114" on Oechsle's 

 scale. 



I consider a little good wine pre- 

 ferable to a good deal poor wine. 



On the whole I am satisfied with 

 the year's operations, inasmuch as I 

 am but little money out for running 

 the vineyard — I paid $7 for plowing 

 it, and my two daughters did the tying 

 and pinching, while I made tobacco. 

 While some may think this very un- 

 ladylike business, I can say that my 

 daughters are as good at thumbing 

 the piano as pinching grapes. God's 

 sun and air are as essential to human 

 life as plant life. Want of out-door 

 exercise is the cause of three fourths 

 of the female complaints in the civil- 

 ized world. No doubt Noah's daugh- 

 ters worked in the vineyard and lived 

 as long as they wanted to. 



One thing I am satisfied of in grape- 

 growing beyond doubt, and that is to 

 pinch just beyond the second bunch 

 of grapes as soon as it is possible to do 

 ^o. As regards farther pinching, I 

 should be guided by circumstances. 

 If the vine has on a light crop, pinch 

 two or three times. I keep a stove 

 in my cellar, and the thermometer at 

 aliout 80°. I am trying 100 gallons 



white Concord, made by pressing im- 

 mediately after meshing, and adding 

 a quarter pound of sugar to gallon 

 must — no water. Will report the re- 

 sult. I pinched my Concords as you 

 recommended, and have sent some of 

 the grapes to a neighboring market, 

 where they sold at from 15 to 25 cents 

 per pound, while there were plenty in 

 the market at 6 and 8 cents. Three 

 things are essential in the vineyard 

 business, to wit : Very early pinching, 

 clean casks, and high temperature in 

 fermenting. 



The cuttings you sent me did well. 

 I grafted the Hermann and Cynthi- 

 ana into Concord roots ; they made 

 three or four canes each, that run all 

 over the top of the trellis. 



I have a good slovenly man's vine- 

 yard ; and I will wager a five-gallon 

 keg that I made more wine for the 

 amount of labor than any man in the 

 State. Geo. M. Dewey. 



[A very interesting report, and to 

 the point. We rejoice to see that at 

 least some of our fair readers took 

 our article " Women in the Yineyard "' 

 to heart, and followed it practicall}'. 

 But while we admit that you did well 

 with little labor, we still contend that 

 you would have been well paid for 

 working thoroughly.] — Ed. 



( OLi-MiuA, Lancaster co. , Pa. 



I'ossibl}' a brief " report on grapes" 

 from Lancaster count}-. Pa., may not 

 be unacceptable. So, I may say that 

 grapes generally have done better in 

 this section, this season of 1870, than 

 for a number of years previous. A few 

 weeks ago, I made a short trip among 

 some of our grape growers, and, though 

 the grapes were about all harvested, I 



