284 The Wilsons Early Blackbeny. 



and cover up snugly all over with soil. This is new practice here, but will 

 be adhered to by those who have tried it. The vine is then perfectly set- 

 tled and packed around by the time it is ready to begin to grow, and noth- 

 ing is then necessary, except to strip off the friendly covering, and allow 

 it to commence the labors of the season. 



I do not like to indulge in vain boasting, or rash statements ; but I can 

 assure your readers, that, in the south-eastern corner of this State, grape- 

 growing, especially the Catawba, is an established business. Literally, 

 hundreds of small vineyards, aggregating thousands of acres, are owned 

 and cultivated by small proprietors, mostly Germans, making thousands 

 of casks, of three and four hundred gallons each, of the choicest and finest 

 tipple that ever passed the lips of man. The making of these huge casks 

 is a specialty here, and they are shipped to all parts of the country. The 

 differences of climate, soil, and vines, from those of Europe, are closely 

 watched by our intelligent growers. We have absolutely no insects at all 

 which prey on the vines (but a few exceptional cases of rot) ; and year by 

 year they feel more and more encouraged, not only to set out more vines, 

 but to get additional crops from those already growing, by more skilful 

 care and management. This business, already vast, is more rapidly on the 

 increase with us than any other ; and the purest of wines are annually 

 becoming more plentiful and abundant. 



January, 1869. 



THE WILSON'S EARLY BLACKBERRY. 



This variety was discovered by John Wilson of Burlington, N.J., about 

 1854. The bush partakes of the habit of both the low and high black- 

 berry; some of the shoots being erect and branching like the New Rochelle, 

 and others without branches, slender, and trailing on the ground like 

 the low blackberry, and indicating a hybrid between that and the high-bush 

 species. The trailing shoots sometimes take root at the tips. Wood downy. 

 The fruit is very large, good specimens measuring an inch and a quarter in 

 length by about an inch in breadth, while the largest are an inch and a half 

 long. Form somewhat irregular, tapering towards the apex ; grains mostly 



