NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



Jj Piiblis 



Published by Jobs B. Rcssei.i. at Xo. 53 North Market Street, (opposite Panucil Hall) Thomas G. Fessekdek, Editor. 



BCSTON, FRIDAY, MAY 1, 1827. 



No. 41. 



HORTICULTURE. 



To the Editor of the American Farmer. 



Tlic only account of Iho culture and nmuagc- 

 ' ment of the Corinthian taisin that I have mot with, 

 I was published at the close of tho last century, in 

 I a work entitled n "I'iew of ike Commerce of Greece 

 thy Felix Bcnvjovr, late French Consul in that 

 [country." The memoir appeared to be very cir- 

 j cumstanlial, and from which I took copious niin 



IXTHIAN GRAPE, OR ZANTE CUR 

 RANT. 



Brighton, ith .Ipril, 18^7. 

 ir. Sir, — As the attention of the public j utes, merely for my own information; but as more 

 to be directed to the culture of the m'ne. jthan twenty-five years have elapsed, I do not re- 

 ps you may deem it useful to offer to their i collect that the extracts were literal, though I am 



pecies or variety called the gra^ie q/j sure they are correct in substance. 

 1h, that affords the Corinthian raisins, com- Wheeler, in his Travels in the Levant, has men- 

 denominated Zanie currants, which it is tioned the Corinthian vine — Viiis Corinthiaca, ot 



blc may be cultivated in some sections of 

 ountry, to as much or more profit for raisins, 

 other descriptions for loine. 

 3 well known that the Corinthian raisiu, or 

 ; currant, occi:pies an important station a- 

 the ingredients of those pleasant amalgams. 

 Puddings and Minced Pies, and as a number 

 riotic farmers are laudably engaged in breed- 

 short horns, Devons and Herefords, at the 

 time improving native stock, "our country- 

 v.-ill soon be enabled to cat as s'ood roasl 



cepyrena ; a shrub that rises only from four to five 

 feet. Consequently, lower than other vines culti- 

 vated in France or elsewhere, but is thicker, more 

 »\oody, and puts forth more roots and .1 greater 

 number of shoots, its leaves are larger, more obtuse 

 less indented, of a more delicate green at the top 

 and puler at the bottom. It is denominated by 

 Linnaeus \he small Corinllnan grape -^uva passu 

 viinima, or passula Corinthica. The berries are 

 similoTr to those of the currant ; they are first 

 green, then of a deep red, and when tipe of a 



is yi^/iji iiu//, and as we ought to follow the | dark purple, and not unlike, in appearance, to 



examples of our parent country, it is dc- 

 e to have plum puddings in as great perfec- 

 also ; but this- the accomplished housewife 

 ell you is impracticable, unless she can have 

 mniand a due portion of Corinthian raisins. 



The common vines in France, nnd most other 

 countries, prefer a south-eastern aspect, and hillt 

 or slopes ; on the contrary, the Corinthian suc- 

 ceeds best on plains, and open to tho west. Ii 

 prefers the vicinity of the sea, and does not suc- 

 ceed on mountains. The vineyards on the de- 

 lightful banks of the Alphcus wore in a languish- 

 ing state ; which was attributed to their being sur- 

 rounded with mountains, that intercepted the ma- 

 rine vapour ; and what rendered the conjecture 

 probable, they succeeded better on the neighbor- 

 ing plains of the ancient Elis. 



The management of the Corinthian does not dif- 

 fer essentially from that of the common vine : 

 some of the processes, however, are rather pecu- 

 liar, and resemble those pointed out by Columella, 

 ■2(100 years ago. The ground for a vineyard is pre- 

 pared' in the'fall, and the planting commences in 

 .Tanuary. The field is laid out in squaresof six- 

 feet ; at the intersection of each, two cuttings or 

 slips, which are preferred to layers, are deposited 

 in a trench, a foot and a half apart, in a sloping 

 position from each other, with two eyes only above 

 the surface. The plants undergo a severe prun- 

 ing, and show fruit the fourth year, but are not 

 suflered to boar many till the seventh, and do not 

 arrive to full bearing till the twelfth year ; and it 

 well manat'cd will last more than a hundred 



years. 



those of the eld^r. It is sweet to the taste, but 



when fresh, iias an agreeable acidity. As it has 



fewer seeds, and is more juicy than the common 



CTLpe, it is admired by the amateurs of fruit, who 



eat it by hunches and crusi^ the seeds between 

 are also said to be a very necessary ingredi- ' tl;eir -teeth. ^ 



nthe composition of that indispensable articleJ ,Tho first grapes of Corinth that appeared in tlie j success ; and was in hopes, in that way, to enrich 

 iug cake, which will probably continue to be" great marts of Europe, were brought, at the be- Iho country U.iit produced t^faondcc — observing. 

 isk dem-ind, even should the project for tax- ginning of the seventeenth century, from the Gulf 



M. Beaujour was cultivating a vineyard at his 

 country retreat at Pella,\v\W\ every prospect of 



bachelors be '-indefinitely postponed," and 

 litis considered that all of this species of 

 that is constimed in the world, is at the 

 ;nt time the product of a few small islands in 

 onian sea, and almost the entire crop engross- 

 y British and Italian agents and factors — a 

 ! portion only reaching this country, usually 

 ly seasoned with gravel, it is evident thai 

 : can come in contact with the palates of our 

 erous and rapidly increasing population. It is, 

 efore a desideratum, that an abundant supply 

 lid be produced on our own soil, t"iee from 

 rogeneous substances. To promote the in- 

 uction of the plants and elicit experiments in 

 cultivation, I know of no one whose efficiency 

 be more relied on, and to whom his fellow 

 ;ens will look with so much hope and centi- 

 me, as to the Editor of the American Farmer. 

 is doubtful whether a single plant of the true 

 inthian vine has ever been cultivated in the 

 ted States. About thirty years affo, I was at 

 at pains to procure some from JVaples and Leg- 

 n, but without eft'i ct ; though I found no diffi- 

 .y in obtaining choice varieties of Italian vines, 

 order to one of the most eminent nurserymen 

 ho neighbourhood of London, met with no bet- 

 success ; and I am inclined to believe it \vas 

 then cultivated in England^as Speechly. in his 

 nirable treatise on the culture of the vine, who 

 imera4es more than a hundred marked viirie ies 

 luingin the hot houses and vineries belnnaing 

 the Duke of Portland, which he had collected 

 der the most favourable circumstances from all 



Irts of the woild, makes no mention of it. 



of Corinth, and hence were called Corinthian rais 

 ins. They were cultivated on all the hills about 

 Corinth, which, from the centre of the isthmus, 

 slope gradually towards the two seas, and on which, 

 out of all the ancient groves, there only remained 

 in 1798, those fine clumps of cypress that shelter- 

 ed Diogenes while he was basking, in the finest 

 sun that ever shone, when Alexander came to dis- 

 turb him. 



M. Beaujour had not been able to ascertain 

 whether Che Corinthian was a variety of the com- 

 mon grape, or constituted a distinct species. One 

 fact he was sure of, that it was not indigenous in 

 the Morea. No writer, before the 17th century, 

 has mentioned it ; and from the researches he 

 had made in Greece and in the Ionian isles, it ap- 

 peared that the Corinthian grape was introduced 

 into the Morea from Naxia, (ancient JVaros) about 

 the year loc'O ; although the plant was not to be 

 tound in that island of the Archipelago when he 

 resided in Greece. It had also disappeared from 

 the country about Corinth, although it was cer- 

 tainly cultivated there when in possession of the 

 Venitians. At the period he wrote (1798) the cul- 

 ture was confined to the territories of the Morea 

 ind the Ionian islands ; but. he was of the opinion 

 it might be introduced with success into othei 

 countiies of the south of Europe. He says the 

 soil best adapted to this plant, is dry, light, fria- 

 ble and flinty ; it does not like a moist, close and 

 heavy earth. The analysis which he made on 

 diflferent soils, in various parts of the Morea, gave 

 from eight parts, five of flinty earth, two and an 

 Aa!/ of clay, and one half of calcareous earth. — 



that if hedid not eat all the grapes himself, or 

 convert them into raisins, he might at least have 

 the pleasure of seeing them taken away by the 

 descendants of Antioclius and Seleucus, who cer- 

 tainly could have no idea of the icondo.rful fortune 

 of their ancestors, when they came in tatters and 

 with naked feet, to sport and play in his fields. 



No manure was used in the Morea ; but in Zan 

 te, where the Corinthian vine is much better culti 

 vated, manure is supplied in trenches, as in France. 

 The husks of common grapes, and a mixture ot 

 salt and ashes had been used with great success. 

 In some vineyards jorop.v were used, but generally 

 the vines were suffered to ramble and support each 

 other. 



The crop begins to ripen about the 1st of August 

 but the harvest is not completed till about the mid- 

 dle of September. A floor is prepared in the mid- 

 dle, or at the extremities of the vineyard, similar 

 to the ancient threshing floor, but in a sloping di- 

 rection, to permit the water that may fall, to run 

 off, and is formed with strong loam rammed hard, 

 and covered with a mastic, consisting of bullock's 

 blood and other substances, which makes a firm 

 varnish, and prevents any of the earth from mix- 

 ing with the fruit, which is gathered by women 

 and children, btought to the floor in baskets, and 

 laid on bunch by bunch over it, and turned every 

 day. In fine weather, the raisins are cured in 

 eight or ten days ; but in a wet season, are some- 

 times out twenty or thirty days ; and when the 

 rains are heavy and of long duration, the gather- 

 ing is much lessened in value, if not lost. When 

 the fruit is sufficiently dry, it is separated from 

 the stalks by small rakes, and being cleared froiu 



