310 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



I first saw the vineyards of California, I did not know what 

 they were. I saw, in the first vineyard I came to, a lot of 

 stumps standing about fifteen or eighteen inches high, and 

 about two or three inches through, and on top of them a 

 bunch like my two fists. I said to my son, who was with 

 me at the time, "What is that?" "That is a vineyard." 

 That was, perhaps, a field of some five or six acres, and all 

 that was done in relation to trimming and fertilizing in any 

 way was to cut off the entire growth of wood in the fall, 

 gather it into piles, and burn it, and spread the ashes upon 

 the ground. There the stumps stand until the next spring, 

 when twelve or fifteen shoots start out of this pile at the top 

 of the stump, which grow, perhaps, from three to five feet, 

 loaded, of course, as you never see the vines in Dr. Fisher's 

 or Mr. Hyde's vineyard, with somewhere from twenty to 

 thirty or forty pounds of grapes to each stump, the stumps 

 standing eight or nine feet apart, but some of them very 

 much nearer. As you pass through Calaveras County, you 

 see vineyards of ten, twenty and thirty acres with these 

 stumps standing in this way, growing what is an immensely 

 profitable crop, although the price is not the ten, twelve or 

 fifteen cents a pound which Dr. Fisher obtains, or the six 

 or seven cents a pound which Mr. Hyde gets in Boston ; it is 

 only from half a cent to two cents a pound, varying some- 

 what with the crop, and the use that is to be made of the 

 grapes. There this noblest fruit which God has given us is 

 converted into a curse in the shape of wine, very generally. 

 The 3'ear I was there, some two or three millions of gallons 

 were made, I think ; this last year, the quantity was ten or 

 twelve millions, and it is constantly increasing. The grape- 

 crop is immense in the vineyards of California. 



In relation to the use of the grape, I will say, I doubt not 

 it is the best fruit the Creator has given us ; so far, certainly, 

 as its effects on the human system is concerned. There is 

 nothing equal to it. You have undoubtedly heard of the 

 wonderful cures effected by what is called the "grape-cure." 

 They have established in Germany a sort of medical institution, 

 to which invalids resort for the cure of certain diseases, and it 

 operates more directly upon the blood than any other fruit. 

 It is more nutritive and more purifying than any other fruit. 



