106 



THE WESTERN POMOLOaiST. 



1871 



of gluten is formed. This is placed into the wine, 

 and thus clarification will be eflfected. It will be 

 well, however, not necessary, to rack off the wino_ 

 The importer of refining clay is Mr. Rob. Francis, 

 47 Broad Street, New York. 



Orape Sugar is imported from Germany by Mr* 

 Julius Jungblut, 3 William Street, New York. It 

 is packed in cases of 120 pounds, and the net cash 

 price is 8 cents per pound. 



There often happens in the wine cellar what is 

 called in France vin mi partie clair, mi pnrtie trouble, 

 which n>eans a low degree of cloudiness, or wine 

 the refining of which proceeds too slowly, and ap- 

 pears to stop at a certain point. The fact has its 

 cause sometimes in the insufficient quantity of ma- 

 terial for clarifying, sometimes in an atmospheric 

 adversity, sometimes in an incorrect method of the 

 operation of clarifying. If, for instance, the wine 

 is not in a quiet condition, and shows inclinations 

 to work, it would be fiir safer to divide the mass of 

 the wine, fill it into well sulphured casks of thirCy 

 or at most sixty gallons. A trial should then be 

 made with clarifying one of the casks, by which it 

 may be ascertained which quantity of clarifying 

 substance may be necessary. Too large a quantity 

 applied to wine in large casks may kill the already 

 weakened wine. 



Add to the clarifying substance, for refining thir- 

 ty gallons, one good handful of kitchen salt.— TFi'ree 

 aTid Fruit Reporter. 



Fruit Growing m California.— Hon. Marshal 

 P. "Wilder delivered a recent lecture before the Mer- 

 cantile Library Association of Boston, on observa- 

 tions made in a California tour last summer. Of 

 course everything at all connected with the pomology 

 of the State was critically observed. From an 

 abstract of the lecture reported for the Boston 

 Daily Journal, we clip the following remarks on 

 fruit : 



" The LtTscious Grape.— Next to the cereals of 

 California, no other production of her soil is so im- 

 portant as the grape. In the State there are about 

 thirty million vines, two-thirds at least of which are 

 in full bearing. California seems to be the home of 

 the vine. I do not intend here to discuss the e.xpe- 

 diency of crushing the purple clusters for the pur- 

 pose of producing the sweet, poisoned wine, but I 

 do say that it is certain that no other region has 

 such advantages as that State for grape growing 

 and the manufacture of wine. In my opinion she is 

 destined to be one of the greatest grape growing and 

 wine producing territories on the face of the earth. 

 With regard to the culture of this and other fruit, 

 I remark that in the several sections we visited 

 fruit could be produced at much less cost than with 

 us. It is very large and handsome, and nearly ex- 

 empt from disease and inset. The atmosphere there 



is so dry that it may remain long on the vines after 

 it is ripe, thus enhancing the opportunities for gath- 

 ering. And then labor there is quite as cheap as 

 with us. In the Alhambra gardens, situated in the 

 Alhambra valley, we saw bunches of grapes that 

 measured eighteen inches in lenghth, though they 

 were only half grown. 



" We saw cherries that measured three and three- 

 quarter inches in circumference ; we saw almonds 

 of great size, and one tree was pointed out to us that 

 that had yielded three bushels in one year; we 

 saw pears measuring twenty-one and a half inches 

 by eighteen and a half. In 1853, peaches were first 

 sent to the market, and sold for $5 per dozen ; last 

 year they were selling from 50 cents to $1 per 

 bushel. Until last year the fruit was confined to 

 home use, and much of it was lost for want of a 

 market. Now, however, the railroads are brought 

 into requisition, and last fall the orders from the 

 East could not be filled. As a general rule the fruits 

 are superior to ours in size and beauty, far sweeter 

 than ours, but not of such excellent flavor. The 

 large autumn pears are more fibrous and mealy than 

 ours. With the exception of the currant, none of 

 the small fraits are as good as ours. The grapes, 

 two hundred varieties of which are now on trial, are 

 all foreign. With regard to flowers, allow me to 

 say that I know not what flowers bloomed in Eden, 

 but I do not think, whatever they were, that they 

 could have exceeded in stately height, gorgeous 

 hues, or fragrance, those that we saw on Angel Is- 

 land." 



Grapes. 



Ed. Pomologist : I see in your February No. a 

 cut of a grape, called Matthews No. 18,— truly a fas- 

 cinating drawing— but at what season does it ripen? 

 The time of ripening is an important item with us, 

 away up here at the 45th parallel of latitude. As 

 a general thing the Isabella will ripen here, but the 

 occasional failures are a drawback, so that in seek- 

 ing new varieties we want those only that are ear- 

 lier than the Isabella. 



Now it occurs to me, that in calling notice to a 

 new fruit, it would save time, labor and expense, if 

 the owners address was given in full, that those de- 

 siring to address him would be enabled to do so. 

 I go for the best all the time— am wedded to no va- 

 riety. Anything new and extra nice, that in season 

 will admit of being grown here, I am anxious to 

 give a trial, whether apple, pear, or grape. 



Peter M. Gideon. 



Excelsior, Minn., March 11, 1871. 



Remarks. " No. 18 " ripens about with Concord 

 —Address Prof. James Matthews, Knoxville, Iowa. 



1^ Read the Chip Basket on second page of the 

 cover, where it will be found monthly. 



