190 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



[Jan. 7, 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



FRIDAY, JANUARY 7, 1825. 



On cultivating the Grape Vine in JVew England. 

 We have frequently been requested, by fiiends and 

 correspondents, to furnish information on this subject. 

 But, entertaining doubts relative to the profit, if not to 

 the practicability of that kind of culture, in our climate, 

 ■we were apprehensive that articles relating to it, might 

 have a tendency to mislead, and induce cultivators to 

 turn their time, attention, and capital to an clject, in, 

 which their hopes might not be realized. The follow 

 ing communication, however, emanating, apparently, 

 from a very respectable source, in which the writer 

 seems so confident of success in this kind of culture, as 

 to wish that " a number of our enterprising farmers will 

 plant vineyards," we thought had paramount claims to 

 attention. AVe were therefore induced to submit the 

 communication to the Hon. Mr LowEi.r,, who, we knew 

 was in possession of both practical and scienti/jc inform" 

 ation on this topic ; with a request that he would fav- 

 our us with his sentiments. Mr Lowell has been so 

 good as to furnish us, and to_benefit the public, with the 

 very able article which immediately follows the commu- 

 nication to which we have alluded, which communica- 

 tion is as follows. 



TO THK EDITOR OF THE NEW ENGLAND FAP.iMEJl. 



Mr Fessenden — There is a disposilion in some 

 of your readers, to commence the culture ofthe 

 grape in vineyards. No doubt a country pro- 

 ducing wild grajjes plentifully will pay the lab- 

 ourer well for cultivating them. Where is the 

 native rye? The native barley? We have 

 none. Corn is a native ; but we are no more 

 confident of r crop of corn, than of rye or barley. 

 Grapes are as certain as either of lliem. Gen. 

 HuMFiiREvs, of Connecticut, the dislinsfuished 

 agriculturist who introduced the Merino sheep 

 among us, has left it on record, as his belief, 

 iliat jYew England farmers could make more gal- 

 lons of'i'inc than of cidir, from the same tand. 



I hope a number of our enterprising farmers 

 will plant vineyards the ensuing year. Numbers 

 will strengthen each other in tlie new work, 

 both with learning and experience. 



The native grape is to lie relied on. If better, 

 can bo had, or a particular kind of native proves 

 best, it is most easy to engral't or enlarge the 

 vineyard. The natives are .nccommodaled to 

 the climate, and will, 1 trust, do great honour to 

 the vine dresser. 



Please inform, when convenient, 5Ir Editor, 

 — What is the best soil and site for a vineyard ? 

 — When is the proper lime to cut and plant the 

 slips. WORCESTER COUNTY. 



Mr LoTii'cWs Remarks on the above. 



Thomas G. Fessenden, Esq. 



Kditnr of the. JVew Engltmii Farmer.^ 



?iR, — You have requested my opinion as to an 

 article sent to you from Worcester County, rel- 

 ative to the culture ofthe Grape in vinevards, 

 that is, as I understand the writer, the cultiva- 

 tion ofthe grape in M.issachuTietls, for the pur- 

 pose of making wine. 1 respect your corres- 

 jiondeut's zeal, but 1 t'eel so deep an interest in i 

 the success of all fitiricultural experiments in this | 

 Slate, that 1 should consider it a misfortune, ifl 

 yoiujiaper. deservedlv jiopuiar, because, To gen- 1 



eral, its articles are sound and judicious, and 

 have contributed and I hope will continue to con- 

 tribute much to the advancement of agricultural 

 knowledge and imjirovement, should advance 

 opinions, or encourage any course of agricultu- 

 ral industry which must ultimately fail. 



The culture of the vine extensively for the 

 purpose of making wine in any of the New- 

 England states, 1 consider imprudent, and in the 

 present state of our knowledge and experience, 

 unwise. 



So far as my experience (and it has been long 

 continued) goes, all the varieties ofthe grape, 

 from which any good wines are made, niH not 

 stand our frosts. In some favourable winters. 

 they will survive, but even in the sheltered 

 gardens of Boston they often perish, at le.ast to 

 the ground, and the shoots afterwards become 

 so weak as to require one or two years to restore 

 their vigour and fertility. Our usual course is 

 to lay them down and cover them with earth. 

 This labour, though considerable, is not how- 

 ever so great as to discourage the culture. But 

 there are other dangers, and much more serious I 

 ones. The grapes which make good wines are 

 natives of much better climates than our own — 

 of climates in which the summers arc much 

 longer than those of the New England states. 

 The grape in the south of France pushes out its 

 foliage in March or the beginning of April. — 

 With us it seldom starts till the 16th of May. 

 and in some seasons not till the last of that month. 

 Frosts usually injure our grapes by the 15th of 

 October, and in some seasons by the 1st of that 

 month ; and they are not ripe till that time. In 

 the wine countries, llie grapes are not injured 

 before the 1st of November, though many of 

 the grapes are ripe enouyh for the vintage by 

 the 20th of September. '^Ph'is the wino coun- 

 tries have l"rom ."lO to 7j days' longer season. 

 There is another difference equally unfavonra- 

 ble to our cultivation ofthe s:rape. Our seasons 

 are much more variable. Though some days 

 ure as hot, others are extremely cold,— though 

 the thermometer is as high at noon, yet its ilc- 

 pression during the night is much greater than 

 in the natural countries of the finer grapes. 

 From this cause, these tender grapes are subject 

 to various diseases, particularly to nhafis called 

 blight. This in sheltered gardens, under the 

 eye and care of experienced gardeners, is check- 

 ed or cured by various applications, and by the 

 modern practice of girdling; but it is feared 

 that these laborious and careful expedients could 

 not be applied to vineyard culture, and with or- 

 dinary skill. 



I apprehend further, that could we ripen the 

 Champagne grape, or even those of Burgundy 

 and Bourdeaux. the wine made from srra[ies 

 grown here would not be as good as that of those 

 countries. There is not, I apprehend, enough 

 of sugar or saicharine matter in grapes raised 

 in Massachusetts, to make a strong bodied wine. 

 Still less could we hope to raise the grapes 

 which make the favourite wines which are im- 

 ported into the United Slates, such as those of 

 Spain, and Portugal, and their colonies. 



It may be objected, that our climate is as fa- 

 vourable as (hat of the banks of the Rhine, and 

 that we might hope to equal the Rhenish wines, 

 Those of us who have been condemned to the 

 pimishmant of drinking those wines, (for it is 

 the only beverage in the countries through 

 which that river flows,) would never consent 



to exchange our own cider and perry for them' 

 Even the best of old Hock would not suit our 

 tastes. If is not generally known here that 

 there arc no wines made near Paris which would 

 be thought of any value by vs. 



But our experimental and enterprizing friends 

 infer, that because we have grapes grovvin" in 

 our oH'n woods, we can successlidiy raise vine- 

 yards and make our own wines. Let them be- 

 gin by an experiment upon our own black and 

 while grapes, with their lough skins, their acid 

 and d(y pulp, their peculiarly unpleasant fla- 

 vour, when the skin is hard pressed, andif thev 

 can succeed in jiroducing one or two gallons cf 

 wine, which will please the taste of connoisseurs, 

 or even acquire a prelerence to ucll manufac- 

 tured cider, let them then cautiously proceed 

 with their experiments. 



It may be said, however, that the grape has 

 been cultivated with some success in X'evay on 

 the Ohio, and that in Virginia and Maryland it 

 seems to be making some progress ; but we 

 should not forget that thej have green peas on 

 their tables, six weeks before tee can produce 

 them on ours, and wc must pause, therefore, he- 

 lore we attempt to follow them in this experi^ 

 mcnt. We are too apt to forget that though 

 we are one nation, and all our country is called 

 Aorlh America, yet that we embrace every va- 

 riety of climate, and that we must not consider 

 the rules and practices of the Southern States 

 applicable to our own favoured portion — favor- 

 ed not by long seasons, and hot suns, and warm 

 nights, but favoured by a climate, which keeps 

 our fields green, our nerves and muscles stron"' 

 r.iul vigorous, and a soil, which, refusing spon- 

 liineous productions without great labour and 

 skill, compels us to lie industrious, and in the 

 end, makes us as a people, richer and more 

 powerful. It wouli! be indeed a subject of o-reat 

 regret, if, disdaining the real blessings which 

 we enjoy, we should strive to attain those 

 which the goodness and wisdom of Providence 

 has withhold from us. We should be very cau- 

 tious as to the adojition of any measures, which 

 should have a londency to throw an air of ru/i- 

 cule upon experimental and scientific agricul- 

 ture. The prejudices which we are obliged to 

 encounter in introducing sound and judicious 

 but iictu modes of culture are sufliciently strono- 

 without exciting additional ones by a too hasty 

 adoption or recommendation of new tiicories or 

 neza project?. 



Those who may be disposed to admit the 

 force and truth ofthe foregoing remarks, may be 

 still inclined to aSk whether we cannot natural- 

 ize, or (to use a Southern phrase,) acclimate 

 with us, the grapes recently introduced from 

 the Southern States, natives of America. There 

 are several of these in Mr Prince's catalogue of 

 grapes. The answer I shall make is, that we 

 have as yet no evidence, that these native 

 Southern grapes are capable of producing toler- 

 able wine. There is no objection to the culti- 

 vation of them for the table. We ha\e doubts 

 whether even these will stand the severity of 

 our winters — we knoiv that some of ihem riHl 

 not, and even, if they should endure our frosts, 

 ive have no sound reason to believe that a 

 grape «liich is sweet in latitude 3o, will prove 

 so when grown in latitude 42. 



We have however more serious objections (o 

 the culture of the grape in our jiarl cf the 

 country. It requires great skill as to its man- 



