238 AMERICAN GRAPE CULTURE. 



no criteria. In our ordinary native kinds we 

 must accept an approximation to ripeness, and 

 not look for full maturity. If we judge by 

 what we see in market, the conclusion is in- 

 evitable, that there are a great many vineyard- 

 ists who do not know when grapes have at- 

 tained even this degree of ripeness. This is the 

 most charitable construction we can put upon 

 the fact that meets us every where. Some lots 

 are so positively bad that the best arts and 

 finesse of the agents can not " work " them off 

 upon the public, and they are sold at a low 

 figure to the " doctors " for making so-called 

 wine ! and not only so, but these " wine doc- 

 tors " go about among the vineyards, and buy 

 up the worthless refuse for the same purpose. 

 We hope that a practice so utterly disgraceful 

 is not known out of New- York. Grapes that 

 are not fit to eat are good enough to make wine 

 of, forsooth ! Let those who buy wine bear 

 this fact in mind. 



We have found two opinions quite prevalent 

 in regard to the ripeness of grapes : one, that 

 they are ripe when they are colored ; the other, 

 that they are ripe when they are sweet. But 

 being simply colored or sweet is not of itself a 

 safe guide. For example, the Isabella and Con- 



