90 APPENDIX. 



any admixture of sugar or alcohol whatever, or of any other 

 foreign substance. Within my own knowledge, the pure juice 

 of the Catawba grape has been kept in bottles twelve years^ 

 the last six of which, it was kept in a dry chamber, and be- 

 came so much improved as to be pronounced by good judges 

 a most delicious dry wine, that would compare favorably with 

 the very best Hock or Madeira. Twenty-four dollars a dozen 

 was offered for it, by one w^ho knew what constituted good 

 wine. 



The pure juice of the grape alone deserves the appellation 

 of wine — to obtain which, of an excellent quality is the grand 

 desideratum that should engage the enlightened efforts of this 

 society. If sugar or spirits is required to convert the juice 

 of the grape into what is called wine, the sooner the vine-cul- 

 ture is abandoned, the better — for we already have among us 

 enough artificial mixtures of this class called wine — many of 

 which, I am credibly informed, have never had the christen- 

 ing influence of a single drop of the blood of the vine. 



If, in awarding a premium by this society for the best 

 native wine of the vintage of 1847, it is intended to apply indis- 

 criminately to all the mixtures of the produce of that year, it is 

 difficult to perceive how horticulture is to be benefited by 

 it. It is liberal and praiseworthy to offer rewards that will 

 tend to encourage so important a branch of Horticulture as 

 the vineyard — to bring its produce into a high state of excel- 

 lence, and to make public that mode of culture and manage- 

 ment of the vine, and that treatment of wine which shall 

 elicit the most meritorious production and obtain the prize. I 

 know the Society, in offering this reward, were actuated by 

 the purest motives — to encourage horticultural improvement 

 alone, and never dreamed of ministering to the cupidity of. 

 the most skillful inventors of compounds. That cultivator, 

 who manages his vines in the best manner, and thereby pro- 

 duces to this Society a pure juice of the best qualities, such 

 as strength, fineness, aroma, and flavor, should be entitled to 



