84 Wine-Making in the Lake-Shore Region. 



GRAPE-GROWING AND WINE-MAKING IN THE LAKE- 

 SHORE REGION. 



By " Catawba." 



The village of Brocton, Chautauqua County, N.Y., has, during the past 

 few years, achieved considerable eminence as one of the centres for wine- 

 manufacture in this country. It is situated on the Lake-shore Railroad, 

 about a mile and a half from the shore of Lake Erie, in the midst of 

 a fertile country. The surface of the vicinity is gently undulating, with a 

 gradual rise of from one hundred and fifty to three hundred feet to the 

 mile, until, a few miles back from the lake, the height of land is reached 

 which divides the waters discharging into the St. Lawrence from the head 

 waters of the Ohio River. 



The vine-growing belt of this region has a breadth of from two to three 

 land a half miles ; and thriving vineyards are to be found from the land on 

 the borders of the lake to altitudes as high as four hundred and fifty feet 

 above its level. 



The soil varies. There are extensive ridges of gravel parallel with the 

 lake, which, for many years, was supposed to be the only soil on which 

 the vine would succeed ; but experience has shown that a sandy loam, 

 with an underlying clay nearer the lake, and the clay loam on shale rock 

 which is the soil of the hillsides, are equally adapted to successful grape- 

 culture. 



By this description, it will be seen that the land has a general exposure 

 nearly to the north-west, in the immediate vicinity of Brocton, though, a 

 few miles to the west and east, the plain between the range of hills and 

 lakes widens; and on it, also, vineyards have been successfully cultivated 

 for many years : but the experience of the last few years has shown that 

 the vineyards farther up on the hillsides ripen their fruit earlier, if any 

 thing, than those in immediate proximity to the lake-shore. 



The success which attends vine-culture on the shore of Lake Erie is to 

 be attributed to the influence of that body of water upon the atmosphere. 

 The mean temperature of the summer season is lower by several degrees 

 than in the interior ; while in winter it is several degrees higher. The cold 



