Vol. VIII.— \o. 26. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



205 



;ad. lie tlien forces into liis nioutli one of tlie 

 rfiil liridles of the country, straps ii saildle on 

 s back, and bestriding Iiini, removes the poncho ; 

 loii which tlie astonished horse springs on his 

 s, and endeavors by a thousand vain efforts to 

 sencurnber liimself of his new master, who sits 



ist|iite composedly on his back, and, by a tliscipline 

 hich never fails, reduces the liorse to such com- 



:ni ete obedience, that ho is soon trained to lend his 

 hole speed and strenglii to the cajiturc of his 

 nipanions."* 

 These animals possess much of the form of the 



mijanish horse, from which they sprung ; they are 

 nied, as has been seen, with far less difficulty 

 an could be thought possible ; and, although 



iMleirs is tho obedience of fear, and enforced at 

 ■St by the whip and spur, there are no horses 

 ho so soon and so perfectly exert their sagacity 

 id tlieir power in the service of man. They are 



ilei assessed of no extraordinary speed, but they are 



ifiipableof enduring immense fatigue. They are 

 quently ridden 60 or 70 miles without drawing 

 t, and liave been urged on by the cruel spur of 

 e Gaucho, more than a hundred miles, and at the 

 ite of twelve miles in the hour. 

 Like the Arab horses, they know no interme- 

 late pace between tho walk and the gallop. Al- 

 lough at the end of a day so hard, their sides 

 re horribly mangled, and they completely ex- 

 austed, there is this consolation for them, — they 

 3 immediately turned loose on the plains, and it 

 Ube their own fault if they are speedily caught 

 ain. The mare is occasionally killed for food, 

 rid especially on occasions of unusual festiviljy. 

 encral San Martin, during the war for indepen- 

 encc, "ave a feast to the Indian allies attached 



iDi ) his army ; and mares' flesh, and the blood 



ti lixcd with gin, formed the whole of the enter- 

 linment. 



On such dry and sultry plains, the supply of 

 inter is often scanty, and then a species of mad- 

 ess seizes on the horses, and their generous and 

 ocile qualities are no longer recognised. They 

 usli violently into every jiond and lake, savagely 

 ian"lin,f and trampling upon one another ; and 

 he carcases of many thousands of them, destroyed 

 y their fellows, have occasionally been seen in 

 nd around a considerable pool. This is one of 

 he means by which the too rapid increase of this 

 iuadruped is, liy the ordinance of Nature, there 

 irevented. 



Tiie wild horses of Tartakt, although easily 

 oniesticated, materially differ in character from 

 hose on the plains of South America. They will 

 lot s\iffer a stranger to join them. If a domestica- 

 ed horse comes in their way, unprotected by his 

 naster, they attack him with their teeth and their 

 leels, and speedily destroy liim. They readily 



Jei !ubniit, however, to the dominion of man, and be- 

 ome perfectly docile and faithful. 



Among tho Tartars, the flesh of the horse is 

 I frequent article of food ; and although they do 

 not, like the Indians of the Pampas, eat it raw, 

 their mode of cookery would not be very inviting 

 to the European epicure. They cut the muscu ar 



i |)arts into slices, and place them tmder their sad- 



dles, and after they have galloped thirty or forty 

 miles, the meat becomes tender and sodden, and 

 fit for their table ; and, at all th'eir feasts, the first 

 and last and most favorite dish, is a horse's head. 



When water was not at hand, the Scythians used 

 to draw blood from their horses, and drink it ; and 

 the dukes of Muscovy, for nearly two hundred 

 and sixty years, ]nesented Tartar ambassadors 

 with the milk of tnarcs. If any of this milk fell 

 upon the mane of the horse, the duke, by custom, 

 was bound to lick it off. 



Troops of wild horses are occasionally met with 

 in the central parts of Africa, in the island of St 

 Domingo, on the deserts of Arabia, and in a few 

 other jiarts of the world ; but no where do they 

 equal the domesticated horse in form, strength, or 

 even speed. (To he continued.) 



Basil Hall's Journey to Peru and Mexico, vol. i. p. 151. 

 Tiic Jesuit Dobrizhoffer, in his History of the Abipone;, a 

 nalioa of Paraguay, and speaking of the tamed horse, (vol. 

 ii. pi2;e 113,) says, that, " stirrups are not in general use. 

 The men leap on their horse on the rigid side. In the 

 right hand they grasp the bridle, and in the left a lery 

 long spear, leaning ou which, they jump with the impjlse 

 of both feet, and then fall right upon the horse's back. ' 



NOMENCLATURE OF GRAPES. 



[Further extracts from Prince's Treatise on the Culture of 



tlie Vine, now in press, and speedily to be published.] 



Continued from pa^e 197. 



QUEEN, Gibbs.—Pr. Cat. No. 131. 



This has round berries of good size, which are 



white with a bloom, and a little colored on the sun 



side ; they are sweet, and of very pleasant flavor, 



and the bunches are also of good size. 



BLACK sccppEU.N'ONc. — Pi". Cat. No. 399. 

 Scuppernong. 

 Purple Muscadine. 

 Sloe grape. 

 Bullet grape. 

 Bullace. 



Vitis rolundifolia, v. nigra. 

 I have not seen the fruit of this vine ; bnt as it 

 is irroduced from the seeds of the other in far the 

 greater projjortion, it may justly be considered as the 

 primitive species, and the fruit no doubt is of ihc 

 same form and possesses the same qualities, with 

 the exception of the color, which is dark red or 

 ])urple, and in some cases black. The tendrils 

 being jiurple, easily distinguish it, without seeing 

 the fruit; the foliage is also of a darker hue, an<l 

 the leaves much less in size than the white variety, 

 but resemble it in other respects. I think it quite 

 probable that there are two distinct varieties of the 

 Scuppernong with colored fruit, as the descriptions 

 of different persons vary as to the color. In North 

 Carolina the purple or dark variety is by some 

 preferred to the white. 



The wood of the different vai-ielies of the Scup- 

 pernong is very hard, which is doubtless the cause 

 why they do not grow as readily from cuttings as 

 the generality of other vines, for in tnost instances 

 those who have pursued this course of culture have 

 met with a total failure. From this circumstance 

 the vines are more scarce in the nurseries than 

 other native kinds. The vines of this species 

 spread their branches to a great extent, and 1 have 

 been informed by a gentleman residing near Ncw- 

 bern. North Carolina, that those cultivated in that 

 vicinity, are ))lanted thirty feet from each other. 

 As the flowers of this species expand nearer the 

 period at which the European vines produce their 

 flowers than is the case with our natives generally, 

 it offers great advantages for obtaining hybrid va- 

 rieties by admixture of the pollen. 



Alexander's. — Pr. Cat. No. 372. 

 Schuylkill IVTuscadcl. 

 Spring Mill constantia. 

 Cape of Good Hope grape. 

 Tasker's grape. 



Vitis labnisca v. Alexandtria. 

 This vine is a sure and plentiful one in its crops. 

 It has been erroneously called, at the Spring Mill 

 vineyard and at Philadelphia, the Constantia, or 

 Cape of Good Hope grajic, but is imquestionably 

 a native of our own country, and originated in the 

 vicinity of Philadelphia, It is stated to have been 

 first found growing near the Schuylkill river, 

 previous to the revolutionary war by a Mr Alex- 

 ander, gardener to one of the Penns. The berries 

 are black when fully ripe, sweet, and of a slight 

 musky fiiivor, but contain a pulp. Wine of a fair 

 quality has been made of this grajre in different 

 sections of the Union ; and Mr Adium, of the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia, and a number of other gentle- 

 men, have succeeded in making from it wine ot 

 quite a pleasant flavor. I have also in my posses- 

 sion some wine made from it several years old, 

 which is of very agreeable flavor, hut not equal M 

 that I have obtained from some other native vari- 



It seems proper here to remark, that Mr Adluiii 

 makes a distinction between the Alexander's rr 

 Schuylkill muscadel, and the Spring Mill Constan- 

 tia. The leaves, he states, are very similar, bm 

 there is a difference in the ajipearance of the clus- 

 ters of fruit, the latter beingthe handsomest; bol!i 

 have a pulp, and the Alexander's has a little of tho 

 Fox grape flavor, but the Spring Mill Constantia 

 has not any of it ; it is sweet, without any musky 

 flavor. Mr Adlum, however, considers both as 

 American grapes, as they most certainly are. The 

 author has cultivated them separately, so that 

 amateurs might gratify themselves by contrasting 

 the two in their experiments. 



Clifton's constantia. — Pr. Cat. No. 406. 



Vitis labrusca, var. 

 I slioulrt not enumerate this under a head dis- 

 tinct from the Alexander's were it not that Mr 

 Adlum conceives there is some distinction. It 

 originated in the garden of Mr Clifton, Philadel- 

 phia, and Mr C. stated that it wos a chance seed- 

 ling, unsown by any one. It was obtained from 

 him by Peter Legeaux, and extensively planted at 

 the Spring Mill Vineyard ; and it has been im- 

 posed on the public as the genuine Constantia of 

 the Cape of Good Hope. It is some satisfaction 

 to know that Americans were not concerned in 

 this deception. It has the same qualities as the 

 Alexander's for wine, and they are generally cul- 

 tivated and considered as synonymous, although 

 it ap|)ears the two have been obtained from differ- 

 ent original vines. 



CATAWBA. — Pr. Cat. No. 377. 

 Catawba tokay. 

 Tokay. 

 Red munsy ? 

 Vitis labrusca v. Catawhcc. 

 This is a large grape, of a lilac color, and in 

 some situations, covered with a beautiful bloom, 

 giving to them a bluish purple appearance. The 

 berries have a slight musky taste, and delicate fla- 

 vor ; hang loosely on the bunches, v.hich are of 

 good size ; and, in fact, they are beautiful to tho 

 eye, very abundant bearers, make an excellent 

 wine, and are tolerable for the tabic. The pulp 

 diminishes and almost disappears when they are 

 loft on the vine until they attain to [lerfect inatu- 

 ritv. 



Although this grape is said to be from the river 

 Catawba, still thoio is much uncertainty on that 



