THE CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 179 



south of latitude 37" N., when properly managed, and this 

 is, to trim enough, in the first stages of its growth, to prevent 

 its becoming bushy, and afterwards, (say fifty years, or no 

 telling how long a vine will flourish,) to keep, by scaffolding, 

 the canopies clear underneath of all straggling or hanging 

 down branches, six or eight feet high. This being not done, 

 the vines will surely fail to bear well, and to have the fruit 

 in perfection. 



" My Hahfax, I estimate next to the Scuppernong grape. 

 It runs or spreads to a great extent. From my study, I see 

 the top of an apple tree covered with fine large clusters, and 

 by measurement, with a ten-foot pole, I find the tree forty 

 feet distant from where the main stem of the vine stands, to 

 the ground, and the tree is twenty feet high. The berry is 

 as large as a common bullet, and the clusters of uncommon 

 size. It changes its color to a bright purple, long before it 

 ripens, and is a good table grape. The Norton Virginia 

 Seedhng, next in excellence, is a good eating grape, or for 

 wine, as soon as it changes to a dark purple. 



" Grapes for Cultivation at the South. — Of one hundred 

 and fifty varieties of grapes, I have not more than about 

 twenty I consider good and unexceptionable in all respects, 

 for Amerieafi culture. My foreign grapes, after trial, I cut 

 down as worthless, and of some, even noted natives, I cut 

 down all but a few, and grafted other kinds upon their stocks. 

 Of the Catawba, Isabella, Herbemont's Madeira, and the 

 Ohio, or Segar Box, and others, I retained a few as speci- 

 mens for their fruit, when any happened not to rot, which is 

 about one season in three, with me ; though I see, from the 

 Patent Office report, that the Isabella and Catawba are not 

 so prone to rot in the state of Ohio, and that, more northerly, 

 they are still less prone. The rot is a grand difficulty at the 

 south, owing, I suppose, to the heat of the climate, and the 

 vines prone to it, are worse, in this respect, by age. This 

 season has been uncommonly fatal to the kinds in question. 

 Till a few days past, we have had rain continued for two 



