PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 223 



t 

 nearer ten pounds, it is often 15 or 20; the number of pounds of the differ- 

 ent kinds of grapes required to make a gallon of wine was stated to me 

 by many wine makers as follows: 



14 lb. Norton's Viginia 1 gallon. 



1 2 lb. Catawba 1 gallon, 



1 1 lb. Concord 1 gallon. 



1 1 lb. Herbemont 1 gallon, 



13 lb. Delaware 1 gallon. 



The last is not a very certain estimate, because little wine as yet has 



been made from this grape. Let it be understood that when I mention 

 wine, I mean nothing whatever but the pure juice of the grape. There are 

 mixtures of sugar, spirits and the like; this is cordial, not by any means 

 wine. 



Wine from the Concord and Herbemont is not quite so good as that made 

 from Norton's Virginia, nor is that from the Catawba, to my taste, at least, 

 nor does either sell for so much. The great advantage in the Concord is 

 that it sells well in market, and is certain to bring, at least, nine cents a 

 pound, wholesale. Large crops have been marketed at twelve cents. It 

 is manifest that if grapes sell for less than eight cents per pound, it is more 

 profitable to make them into wine, The Hartford Prolific is the earliest of 

 all, is certain to bring 15 to 20 cents a pound, and south of 38 deg. does 

 not drop, north of this it does to some extent. 



After making all proper allowances for unforeseen casualties, and cutting 

 down the estimate of the profit of an acre of grapes one-half, M^hich grape- 

 growers will call monstrous, with a grape that does not rot, I think it 

 quite safe to say that an acre, planted as I have attempted to describe, and 

 well cared for, will, after the fourth year, and during one's natural life- 

 time, bring in annually the sum of five hundred dollars. I am confident 

 that often it will bring a thousand dollars annually. 



There is one other item of no little consequence, and that is the sale of 

 layered roots or of cuttings. From every vine a layer may be had, and 

 for years to"come, perhaps hundreds of years, as much as a hundred dollars, 

 at least, annually may be obtained from this source. I remark here that 

 the Hermann folks say the Norton cannot be grown from cxittings, but 

 that the Concord can be. One person told me he could do it, but refused 

 to tell how. I think I divined the secret, and will divulge it when I speak 

 of propagation. 



The Hermann folks gave me these two statements: Melchior Poeschul, 

 from one and a half acres of grapes, sold 11,000 pounds at 9 cents, made 

 10 gallons of wine at $2, and also sold $350 worth of layers— total, $1,490. 

 Another Poeschul, from three acres sold, 1,700 gallons of wine at 31.75. 

 This was last yeai-, and from the Catawba at that. 



It has been thought, particularly at Cincinnati, that Americans cannot 

 raise grapes, and that only German vine dressers can succeed. I think 

 this is a great error. It is true that they are Germans at Hermann, but 

 after making many careful inquiries I could not learn that any of the suc- 

 cessful growers knew anything about the business before they came to this 

 country. On the contrary, I was shown the place of a regular German 

 vine dresser, who continually prophesied failure on the part of his neigh- 



