1871 



THE WESTERN POMOLOGIST. 



73 



}^t limgarlr. 



For the Western Pomologiet. 



Tbe Scoppernons Grape. 



Bt a. C. Cook, Coyinstok, Ga. 



This grape is indigenous to Roanoke Island, N. C, 

 and according to history was discovered by Sir 

 Walter Raleigh. This vine, in IGIO, was three 

 inches in diameter, and at present covers over one 

 acre of land ; and in 1869 produced over 3,000 gal- 

 lons of wine. Another vine, in Tyrrel county, 

 N. C, in 1869, produced 2,530 gallons of wine, ac- 

 cording to the statement of Mr. Van Buren, a noted 

 pomologist. The Scuppernong has heen found 

 growing wild in the forests of Georgia. It commen- 

 ces hearing the third year from the layer, and will 

 double its production annually. It blooms after all 

 danger of frost has passed. In this latitude (33 deg. 

 30 min.) it blooms from the 10th to the 20th of June. 

 No disease of leaf or fruit lias ever been known, nor 

 have I ever seen it disturbed by any insect. Last 

 August, all the native vines about here were defoli- 

 ated by the leaf-roller. I saw Catawba vines along- 

 side of the Scuppernong, the canes of each entwined, 

 yet the Catawba vines were denuded of foliage but 

 not a leaf of the Scuppernong was affected. There 

 is no necessity of pruning the vines, so far as its 

 bearing capacity is concerned. The popular mode 

 of training in the South is on arbors constructed of 

 posts and rails. The usual, or most common dis- 

 tance for planting, is 30 by 30 feet, and it requires 

 from fifteen to twenty years for the vines to cover 

 the arbor completely, and produce full crops. Few 

 men are willing to wait the third of a lifetime to 

 realize the full development of any agricultural 

 product, and as time is money in this fast age, I 

 cast about for some more expeditious mode of real- 

 izing the full benefit from the cultivation of this 

 grape. 



Let the soil be well worked or stirred up to the 

 depth of one foot or more, and underdrained. Bet 

 the vines in rows ten feet apart, and fifteen feet 

 apart in the row. Set a stake to eacli vine, ten feet 

 high, upon which to train the young vine the fir.st 

 season. As the vines extend up the stake, at every 



two feet, as near as possible, leave two laterals for 

 training right and left. Before the commencement 

 of tbe second year's growth set posts ten feet high 

 equi-distant between the vines. At distances from 

 the ground of two, four, six, eight and ten feet, 

 stretch No. 12 wire, to which train the laterals. In 

 four years from planting the trellis will present a 

 solid wall of the most beautiful green, with its gold- 

 en fruit. 



The Scuppernong is propagated by layers or 

 grafting only. The vine is slender and short- 

 jointed, wood hard and close grained. Not one in 

 a hundred cuttings will strike root by the ordinary 

 method. Some nurserymen prepagate it by graft- 

 ing upon roots of the Muscadine. The vine does 

 best upon a sandy or not overly fertile soil. On a 

 rich soil the vine makes wood at the expense of the 

 fruit. Still, the soil should not be very lean. Land 

 that will produce twenty -five bushels of corn to the 

 acre, will produce good crops of fruit. The fruit is 

 grown on spurs of two to three years' growth — dif- 

 fering in habit of fruiting from all other grapes. 

 The vine will not succeed north of latitude 37 deg. 

 Cold of zero kills the vine to the ground. 



In the August number (1870) of the Pomologist 

 it is stated that the must of the Scuppernong has 

 been known to register 96 degrees. My experience 

 does not corroborate that statement. True, some 

 trials have shown 92 by selecting the grapes, while 

 the average grapes of the same vine only registered 

 72. I have generally added about three-fourths of a 

 pound of best refined sugar per gallon of juice and 

 fermented in large casks with tin tubes inserted air 

 tight in the bung, with the other end immersed in a 

 vessel of water. The fermentation is not very 

 active, as shown by the escape of gas in the bubbling 

 of the water. After fermentation has ceased, I 

 make the cask tight — filling up twice a month till 

 March, then rack into clean casks. By this time it 

 is clear, with a fine, sweet. Muscatel flavor ; yet 

 much gluten remains, with a tendency to efferves- 

 cence, and continues to deposit sediment for two or 

 three years. For this reason it has been customary 

 to add some kind of spirit to the wine to prevent 



