132 Southern Horticultural Trip. 



venient height for picking from beneath ; and single vines sometimes cover 

 a quarter of an acre of ground, and produce from fifty to seventy bushels 

 of fruit. The young shoots would not be recognized by one unacquainted 

 with it as belonging to a grape-vine, but resemble much more strongly 

 those of the Chinese wistaria. In the middle of January, we were, of 

 course, unable to test the fruit ; but the sparkling wine kindly presented us 

 by L. A. Hart, Esq., made from this grape at his vineyard, without any 

 addition of spirit, we found of fine quality as a champagne. He also 

 gave us W'ines of the Flowers and Thomas grapes, sub-varieties of the 

 Scuppernong, which promise to be of good quality. The wine of the BuUace 

 wild grape of the wood has not been appreciated as much as it deserves. 



On our arrival at Charleston, S.C., Jan. 15, our first inquiry was how 

 we could arrange to visit the newly-discovered phosphate-beds, which 

 are expected to be of untold value to the SouthiCrn planter. Fortunately 

 we met Mr. Moses, a former acquaintance, who is agent for one of the 

 companies engaged in developing these resources ; and the next day he 

 took us eighteen miles up the Cooper River, where about forty negroes 

 were at work in throwing out and cleaning the nodules. These deposits 

 are attracting the attention of capitalists, and several companies are work- 

 ing them. One Philadelphia company purchased and leased twenty thou- 

 sand acres, thinking to secure the control of the business ; but the deposits 

 are so extensive, that their tract scarcely makes an impression upon it. 

 Three large manufacturing establishments are now in successful operation 

 in Charleston, finding an ample market in the cotton States ; and several 

 thousand freedmen find labor in the trenches, paid by the ton for excavat- 

 ing. Large quantities are also sent North and to Europe. This valuable 

 material has been traced from its outcrop on the Ashley River, across the 

 Cooper River on the north, and beyond the Ashepoo on the south • while 

 the physical indications are that it is not limited even to this wide field. 

 The region is said to be entirely free from stones, and every thing harder 

 than the soil itself is a part of the valuable dei^osit; so that a simple wash- 

 ing suffices for the rejection of all worthless material. It is estimated, that, 

 making due allowance for the earth that fills the interstices between the 

 nodules and their imperforations, there are probably more than a thou- 

 sand tons of the phosphate to each acre that it underlies. The larger part 



