DOMESTIC WINES. 151 



making principle. They exist in each variety, with so little 

 variation in quantity that very seldom anything foreign has 

 to be added. In this consists the difference between them 

 and our own native grapes, which are deficient in sugar and 

 also contain an excess of acid. 



It will at once be perceived that our neighbors over the water 

 have every advantage over us, in the production of wine, both 

 as regards cost and quality. 



AMERICAN GRAPES. 



All attempts to cultivate the foreign grape in this country 

 with profit and success have been nearly, if not entirely, failures. 

 Our climate is not adapted to their healthful growth and fruit- 

 age. By the means of hot-houses, and the forcing process and 

 careful culture, foreign grapes have been produced ; but the 

 experiment has been laborious, and has not paid. We must 

 depend upon our own native grapes, both for fruit and for 

 wine. All our wild and cultivated grapes have sprung from 

 four or five distinct species. Of the wild and cultivated grapes 

 there are nearly two hundred varieties. Upwards of one hun- 

 dred varieties are cultivated. From the following species have 

 sprung nearly all the varieties of both wild and cultivated 

 grapes : First, Vilis Labrusca, of LinnjEus. From this species 

 are derived the Isabella, Catawba, Concord, Diana, Rebecca, 

 Anna, Hartford Prolific, Muscadine, Sweet-Water, &c. Nearly 

 forty varieties of cultivated grapes have been produced from 

 this species. Second, Vitis uEstivalis, of Michaux. The fol- 

 lowing varieties are descended from this species, and nearly 

 twenty other species not named — Warren, Clinton, Burgundy, 

 Delaware, King, and Nortons Virginia. Third, Vitis Cordifolia, 

 of Michaux, commonly called the frost or winter grape. There 

 are not more than one or two varieties of this species under 

 cultivation, and these are of very little consequence. Fourth, 

 Vitis Vul/iina, of Linna3us. I believe there is only one variety 

 of this kind cultivated, viz., the Scuppornong, named from a 

 lake in North Carolina, on the banks of which it was discovered. 

 There are one or two more species known to exist, but are not 

 much known. In fact it is quite probable that all these rather 

 unimportant plants, if properly analyzed, would be found to 

 belong to one of the four first-named species. It is nearly 



