68 • FRUIT GARDEN. 



others, after attaining eight or ten feet in height,, were 

 stretched horizontally. He seldom gathered fruit 

 within three or four feet of the ground, which was kept 

 cultivated by frequent hoeing, and during ten years 

 never applied manure. 



The main source of destruction to foreign grape-vines 

 in the American climate appears to be not so much in 

 the severity of the winter frosts as in the sudden return 

 of cold spells. Foreign vines seem to commence the 

 free circulation of their sap earlier than the native 

 kinds, and thus are exposed to having their circulating 

 juices frozen, to the certain destruction of the vines. 



In England the Vine-culture is limited to the pro- 

 duction of a costly luxury for the tables of the wealthy. 

 But in the United States the raising of the grape has 

 for its object not only a supply of wholesome and deli- 

 cious fruit for eating, but for the production of wine. It 

 is, however, only within the last year or two that the ef- 

 forts of those who have devoted attention to wine-making 

 have met with decided and even brilliant success, and 

 that the Cincinnati wine-makers have demonstrated the 

 practicability of producing an American wine that will 

 bear competition with some of the best of Europe. 



Among native American grapes yet brought into suc- 

 cessful cultivation, the Isabella, as has been already 

 stated, is the most hardy, and may be raised in the open 

 air as far north as the St. Lawrence. It bears long, ta- 

 pering bunches, with few shoulders, the berries being 

 oval, jet-black, and covered with a fine bloom or white 

 flour. The skin is thick, the flesh very sweet, though a 

 little pulpy, with a slight musky flavor. The vine is of 

 a brownish-red color, and very strong, the leaves being 

 large and three-lobed, coated underneath with white 



