1863. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEK. 



» 



THE VINEYARDS OP EGYPT. 



CATAWBA WIKE IN MADISON COUNTY. 



To THE Editor of the Illinois Farmer: — 

 Having beon detained a day at Highland, about 

 a -week ago, I made use of my compulsory leisure 

 to visit the vineyard of the Messrs. Koepfli 

 "whereof by parcels you have something heard," 

 but perhaps not so much as to make this com- 

 munication devoid of interest. 



Highland is an inland town of Madison county, 

 situated in the southeastern corner, and is some 

 thirty miles north of east from St. Louis, and 

 ten miles north of Trenton, its depot on the Ohio 

 and Mississippi railroad. It contains a popula- 

 tion of some 1,500, composed of Swiss, mostly, 

 who generaliy speak the German language, but 

 occasionally French, according to their cantons. 

 Half-a-dozen Americans represent the native ele- 

 ment in this imported town, otherwise all are 

 foreigners or their immediate descendants. 



The face of the country hereabout is prairie, 

 interspersed with numerous elevations, too grad- 

 ual in their rise to be called mounds, which are 

 generally covered with groves of oak and hickory, 

 giving evidence, if we may accept Prof. Hall's 

 view, of a soil less comminuted than the sur- 

 rounding silt of the lower grounds. Long lines 

 of Lombardy poplars along the roadsides and the 

 occasional vineyards point out the foreign origin 

 of the inhabitants, whose farming puts to shame 

 much of the easy going agriculture of "Egypt." 



Caspar Eocplli, of the canton of Luzem in 

 Switzerland, settles? in this neighborhooa in 

 the autumn of 1831, and in 1837 the town of 

 Helvetia now known as Highland, was laid out. 

 The settlement is accordingly over thirty years 

 old, and its experience in vine growing of co- 

 equal duration. Dr. Koepfli and his sons brought 

 with them wine grapes from different parts of 

 Switzerland, France and Germany, with the ob- 

 ject of making experiments in wine culture. 

 They soon found those grapes would not do here. 

 At last in 1843, they visited the vineyard of 

 Mr. Longworth at Cincinnati, and brought home 

 100 vines of the Catawba, from which they made 

 in 1847 110 bottles of wine; a few bottles of which 

 aresiill carefully preserved. In the same year, 

 encouraged by this success, they began planting 

 their present vineyard. This is upon one of the 

 most beautiful farms I have seen upon our fair 

 prairies. It comprises a half section of land bor- 

 dering on the north of Highland. A gradual 

 slope of half a mile from the village northward 



carries you upon a high eminence, covered with 

 a fine grove, and commanding a wide prospect 

 over the rolling prairies and pleasant fields, 

 grove crowned hills and embowered farm-houses. 

 Upon this eminence is situated the dwelling of 

 Messrs. Joseph and Solomon Koepfli, fronting 

 the south and surrounded with natural and 

 planted trees, producing a very pleasing effect. 

 South of the house on the slope, fronting the 

 southern sun and sheltered by the grove, lies the 

 vineyard planted in 1847, 1848 and 1849 and 

 now containing four and a half acres; or about 

 12,000 vines. Those of 1847 were at first planted 

 6x6, but by layering were afterwards made 6x3. 

 Those planted in 1848 and 1849 were planted 

 5x3. They consider 6x3 better. To get the 

 sun the rows run east and west, 6 feet apart, and 

 are cultivated with the plow in that direction. 

 The ground was trenched to the depth of two 

 feet before planting. They co'isider that three 

 feet would have been better, and recommend rot- 

 ten manure in the bottom of the trenches. They 

 laid one pipe to the depth of three feet to test 

 the matter of drainage, but it never delivered any 

 water. Perhaps the subsoil is less retentive 

 than is usual under the white soil of Egypt: at 

 any rate they say that a deep cellar dug before 

 the house was built, retained no water. They 

 manure abundantly and consider this a prime 

 requisite to success. Horse manure has beeu 

 found not so easily rotted and taken up as cow 

 manure, and the latter is therefore preferred. 



In the general management of the vine, they 

 follow the same plan as that described by Dr. 

 Warder in the Patent Office Report for 18567 

 They plant the Catawba almost exclusively, con- 

 sidering it the best grape yet proved. It blights 

 more or less every year, commonly about the 

 first of July, but this year near the end of that 

 month, but they consider that it fails no oftener 

 than grapes in Europe, and that the quality of 

 the wine will compare favorably with that of the 

 Old World, "^ 



The Messrs. Koepfli believe prairie better than 

 woodland for wine culture, and the interior bet- 

 ter than the banks of rivers, because more free 

 from moisture. They think the country getting 

 drier as it is more pastured and cultivated, makes 

 the climate more favorable, and say that this is 

 also the experience of Mr. Longworth at Cincin- 

 nati. They prefer a southeastern aspect for the 

 vine, but have found the shelter of their grove in- 

 jurious, which they attribute to its checking 

 the eii^alation of air. 



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