MY VINEYARD. 49 



On my way thither, I chanced to stop for a little while in 

 the village of Hermann, now famous for its vineyards and 

 wine. I was much pleased with what I saw of grape- 

 growing, and made up my mind that it was a pleasant 

 occupation. Nearly every one had found it profitable, 

 and seemed to enjoy it, as indeed they ought with such 

 excellent fruit and wine always at hand. I investigated 

 the subject with care, and learned what I could of the 

 methods of culture. Much of the information seemed 

 conflicting, and the talk about pruning and pinching, of 

 renewals and laterals, of canes and spurs, was difiicult to 

 comprehend with any satisfactory degree of clearness. 

 The trouble was my almost total ignorance of the subject. 

 I had read a few articles in the papers on grape-growing, 

 but had scarcely thought of it as a business to which my 

 farm was adapted. The soil was unlike that which, seem- 

 .ed to be almost universally recommended, and so far as I 

 knew, my location was farther north than any in which 

 success could reasonably be expected. At that time the 

 business had been commenced, with good promise of suc- 

 cess, in a few localities similar to mine ; but I did not 

 know of it. From what I saw in Hermann, however, I 

 concluded to make a trial of grape-growing on a small 

 scale, believing that if the grapes would not sell, I could 

 make it profitable to manufacture them into wine. At all 

 events, I would commence so moderately that a failure 



would not subject me to any great inconvenience. Up to 

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