90 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 2 



greatest bearer 1 ever have seen, and its fruit is 

 equalled by few, and surpassed by still fijvyer, as a 

 delicious grape for the table as well as for wine. 

 This, then, is one of the vines , which, in those 

 provinces are planted as near as 15 or 20 inches 

 from each other ! W hat can cause this enormous 

 difference in the growth of tbe same plant ? It 

 cannot be richness of soil; for in parts of France 

 and Spain tlieir vineyard? are highly manured, 

 and grow in a more genial soil, being highly cal- 

 caraous. My soil is very light and sandy, and al- 

 though the vines alluded to, as growing in my gar- 

 den, '^nre occasionally manured, yet it is by no 

 means very rich; and at my farm, Avhere the vines 

 have only been manured at the time of |)lanting 

 them, and the soil there is very poor and sandy, 

 they grow nearly as large as in n)y garden. 1 have 

 noticed strangers sometimes look at the soil and 

 the vines alternately, in the utmost surprise,, not 

 being able to realize in their minds, such a growth 

 on such a soil. Thisis most certai"nly very strange, 

 and we can scarcely conceive that such must be 

 the sole effect of climate. Can it be really the 

 effect of climate, or is there some other cause that 

 we have not yet found out? It could not v.'ell be 

 attributed to the mode of culture and trainmg; for 

 my first efibrts were to cultivate and train the vine 

 low as is done in France, allowing them more 

 space, however, than is done there, for I expected 

 a larger growth on account of the climate. I soon 

 found it impossible to keep them down, for when 

 they were from 6 to 12 years old, th-^y would put 

 out shoots in one summer 20 or 30 leet long, or 

 even more. I was, therefore, obliged gradually to 

 adopt my present mode of traini:g. Wbat can 

 be the cause or causes of this enormous diilerence 

 in the growth of the same plant? It must aJso be 

 noticed there are several other kinds of French 

 vines, particularly the white grapes, that never as- 

 sume this great luxuriance. I have another, 

 which is also said to be a JBurgundy grane by per- 

 sons who know to a certainty of its having been 

 imported from France. This vine was called by 

 a French gentleman, many years since, the "giant 

 vine," on account of the great vigor of its growth. 

 It makes a very good red wine; but I do not culti- 

 vate it much, because it is exceedingly liable to rot, 

 much more so than my Madeira; thouo-h both are 

 said to do well in the low part part of this State, 

 principally in Charleston and Beaufort. If it really 

 he so, I am much surprised that some one does not 

 cultivate it on a large scale for wine; for its pro- 

 duce would there surpass any after production in 

 profitableness, reaching, or even exceeding, 2000 

 gallons of wine per acre. 



Now to compare the product of our gigantic 

 vines with the dwarfish ones of France. Their 

 crops seldom exceed 300 or 400 gallons per acre, 

 vcr\- rarely, though sometimes reaching, however, 

 to 1000 gallons. My vines rot much every sum- 

 mer, sometimes more, sometimes less, accordini>' to 

 the season. The last was most imflivorable, and 

 at least two-thirds of the grapes were lost by the 

 rot. The remaining ones grow probablv the lar- 

 ger for it, as the latter |)art of the season was very 

 fjxvorable. Now, notwithstanding all this loss bv 

 rot, I made from that sixth part of an acre in mV 

 garden 230 gallons of wine, which multiplied by 6 

 gives 1380 gallons us the produce of an acre simi- 

 larly situated. The culture of the vine in this 

 country is a most interesting subject, that deserves 



to be followed up with zeal by wealthy public 

 spirited gentlemen, or more properly by public aid. 

 I had intended, sir, to give you the dimensions 

 of several other of my vines; but my paper is so 

 nearly filled uji, that I have only room enough left 

 to tell you that I have tested the truth of the arti- 

 cle in the last No. of the Farmers' Register rela- 

 tive to the maclura aurantiaca (osaize orarifre.) 

 Silk-worms really li^ed freely on its leaves, and I 

 have grafted it on the Chinese paper mulberry, 

 {Brousunetia,') and roots of the common mulberry, 

 with apparent liill success. My good Iri nd, 1'. 

 S. P. liaving sent me seeds of this valuable tree, 

 I planted them, and I have at least one hundred of 

 them coming up finely. This is also a very in- 

 teresting subject, which deserves the attention 

 of the lover of his country. 



?r. iiKUcnriOKT. 



Lktter II. 



The subject ol provignage requires some ex- 

 planation li^r those persons who are not acquainted 

 with the culture of the vine in France. Provig- 

 nage is usually nothing more than the practice 

 known to all gardeners of laying a branch of a 

 plant for the purpose of making it take root, and 

 thus multiplying the subject." This word has, 

 however, besides this, another, tlrough analogous 

 meaning, among the cullivalors of' the vine in 

 Europe, and principally in Burixundy and Cliam- 

 pagne. By it is also understood the singular and 

 strange operation of laying down in a trench, not 

 only the whole vine, but all the vines of a vine- 

 yard, leaving only the summits out of the earth. 

 The object of this is to renew the vines without 

 losing time, as the vines bear a crop the same 

 year that the operation is perlbrmed. By, this 

 operation, all the vines of a vineyard will, after 

 a number of years, be very far from the p'ace 

 where thev were originally planted. I called this 

 a strange operation; for, where a plant is in a soil 

 and climate fully suited to its perft-ct success, this 

 cannot be necessary, particularly for a plant, which' 

 like the vine, will live and thrive, in favorable cir- 

 cumstances, lor several hundred years. This pro 

 vignage, or laying of the whole plant, has been 

 practised time immemorial; but it was only after a 

 considerable number of years, when the vines 

 really needed renewal. JBut it is now done in 

 some parts of Champagne, as frequently as every 

 three years. This being a very laborious and 

 expensive operation, the advantages of it must 

 have been veiy fully ascertained. The high 

 prices of the wines produced in that country maj^ 

 warrant this expense; but it certainly would not 

 do lor the irreat bulk of the vine countiies in 

 Europe and elsewhere. The vine being there a 

 very diminutive plant, compared with its natural 

 exposition in more southern countries, rendeis 

 this operation ])racticable; but it would be impos- 

 sible with us, except with very few, if any of the 

 least vigorous growers. With us, however, it is 

 not necessary, lor I lee! confident that most of my 

 vines are capable of living and thriving for seve- 

 ral centuries, if sufli-red to do so. It would be 

 a very wrong iden, to suppose that because our 

 vines here are very extensive and large, that ihcy 

 must look old and decrepid. They are not at all 

 so. They are, on the contrary, most luxuriant 

 and fi'uitful. It is also proper to observe that their 

 size is no obstacle to their being as closely pruned 



