226 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



I do not want to tell any long stories, and I close by saying this business 

 went on a long time. When it came to an end I felt I had come to a good 

 place ; still I remember in particular that as I walked away I called 

 myself sober. At dinner, which came next, we had no drink but wine. 

 Such is their custom. It seems to me no harm would be done if it were 

 made a substitute for tea and coffee. 



After this we went into the vineyai'd. It was the Catawba, and was 

 planted fifteen years ago. Here are nine acres, and adjoining as many 

 more. The manner of training is on trellis, though instead of wire there 

 are oak slats. The ground is so steep that there is a terrace every second 

 row, made of stone wall, with stone steps at intervals, the material for 

 which came out of the ground when trenched. The average profit for ten 

 years, excluding two years when there were hail-storms, has been $500 an 

 acre. For several years the grapes had rotted badly. The owner said he 

 had done all the work himself, and added : " I work much, very much." 

 I never saw a stronger, healthier-looking man. I would say the same of 

 almost every one I saw of this class. They have not the least appearance 

 of being intemperate. Striking his hand on his heart, one said, " Wine is 

 good here." On the highest point of this vineyard was a watch-house. 

 At another place I saw some vineyards which were inclosed with the 

 osage-orange hedge. " A certain householder planted a vineyard, and 

 hedged it around about, and digged a wine-press in it, and built a tower." 



On our return we stopped where they were making the wine cellar. 

 This man had half an acre of Delaware grapes which I wanted to see, and 

 from it he had made several hundred gallons of wine. His cellar was 

 under his house, and so filled with casks that the wine was drawn up 

 through the tubeing. The testing began again, and the same scene was 

 presented as in the other cellar. Soon we reached the Delaware. I know 

 of no other person in the West who has made wine from it. From so 

 sweet and fine a grape I did not expect a wine so much like Catawba, and 

 so sti'ongly vinous. It seemed to me inferior to that made of the Norton 

 Virginia. I do not pretend to be a good judge. It will require some 

 time for us to have good judges of native wine. Old wine judges have 

 based their taste upon foreign wines, many of which, if pure, have a flavor 

 of goat skins. It may have this flavor if it is not pure. For a certain 

 sum a book can be had in New York which will teach one how to make 

 whisky taste like every kind of wine and liquor. 



I looked at the Delawares in the vineyard. They showed their character 

 of short joints and light-colored wood ; they are nearly as strong as the 

 Catawbas. Frequently, during my journey, I was shown some of Dr. 

 Grant's five-dollar Delawares. Some of them had not grown four inches 

 in as many years. But here they look well. I have some myself which 

 grew three or four feet last year; others look as if they might live. I am 

 convinced that the reason why there has been dissatisfaction with this 

 variety, is because nurserymen, in their eagerness, have propagated from 

 eyes of immature wood. Such vines never will grow. A plant is just as 

 good when grown from an eye, if you give it time, as from a layer. But 

 the wood must be ripe. 



