1864. 



THE ILLINOIS FAPwMEK. 



101 



augmented by reason of a largely in 

 creased consumption, and it will be a 

 Ions; time before it will agcain reach 



CD CD 



such a low fio-ure. 



If Mr. Nason's figures are correct, 

 that the vinegar will pay for manufac- 

 turing, with the exception of cost and 

 interest on the mill, we shall certainly 

 have a cheap sweetening. 



The use of automatic planters, two- 

 horse cultivators and machine for cut- 

 ting, to say nothing of other improved 

 implements, the sorgo crop is placed 

 on a good, prosperous foundation, and 

 must occupy a position only second to 

 that of hay and corn. Already numer- 

 ous steam works are beino- erected at 

 prominent points to work up the crop. 



]^otwithstanding the early fi-ost there 

 is plenty of ripe seed in the center and 

 south part of the State, and no one need 

 pay interested seedsmen double prices 

 for good seed. Some of these w' orthies 

 are ofi'ering to sell at fifty cents a lb. or 

 twenty dollars a bushel, when four to 

 five dollars a bushel for the new sorts, 

 such as Neezeana andOomseanamio-ht 

 be considered a round price. 'No large 

 amount of the Red Cane can be had at 

 any price, but an abundant supply will 

 be had next season, wdien its value will 

 have been more fully tested. 



-*>- 



Grape Growing and "Wine Making. 



The N. T. Tribune, wishing to post 

 its readers on the above subject, direct- 

 ed its western correspondent. Dr. X. 0. 

 Meeker, of Dongola, Union county, to 

 visit prominent vine-growers for the 

 purpose of arriving at the facts. The 

 Doctor has faithfully performed his du- 

 ty, having visited Cincinnati, Herman 

 and various other places, requiring sev- 

 eral thousand miles of travel and weeks 

 spent in the investigation. We would 



like to give the article entire but for its 

 length, which occupies several colume.s 

 of the Tribune : 



At Des Moines, Iowa, James Smith, long la v:^ r 

 and suecessfuUy has propagated tlie Coiicoid ;^r;ipe 

 and so far as I know has been most instriunci.tal iu 

 giving it notoriety in the West. He has always 

 raised good vines, some of which, if ])e:mitled, 

 would bear the first year. At various pl^u-es o:i 

 the Mississippi, particuhirly at Warsaw and Qiiiiicy, 

 grapes are doing remarkably'well. Mu-.-h «ns at- 

 tempted, some time ago, at Nauvoo, by a French 

 colony. Foreigners never have succeeded in this 

 business in our country, where they clhig to Euro- 

 pean methods. The experiment of the Swiss, at 

 Veviiy, Ind., was on a large scale and a fuluic. 

 Almost everywhere on the Upper Mississippi 

 grapes are doing well. Various parties have fine 

 success in the Rock River Valley, in Xorrhern Illi- 

 nois, near Wisconsin. Here all kinds of grapes arc 

 reported to succeed, and the Delaware in jiarticu- 

 lar. The soil approaches sand, with a deep sub-soil 

 of shale or gravel. It is known as hazvl hind. 



It is important to know what success attends 

 grape growing on the prairies, which occupy so 

 large a portion of this State, a considerable portion 

 of Indiana, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Nrbi-aska 

 and Kansas. This is a wide region, and one nmst 

 travel and observe much to be able definitely to 

 make a statement which will apply to the wliole. 

 There is reason to believe that Illinois contniiis ev- 

 ery variety of prrdrie, as well as of timber soil com- 

 mon to the region named. To tell hovi- grapes do 

 here will indicate how they will do in similar sec- 

 tions. 



In the heart of the black soil praric r^trion at 

 Bloomington, grapes have been thoroughly tried. 

 Dr. Schroder has four acres; K. H. Fell an acre, 

 Mr. Phceiiix five acres, though not in f.:!l iie-iring, 

 and is preparing to put out as much move ; uho 

 Messrs. Overman & Man ; as well as some other 

 parties. In all there are about thirty acres. Dr. 

 Schroder, a German, has given his vines great at- 

 tention ; trains them on trellis and is successful, 

 even with the ('atawba, though they rot with h'm, 

 as elsewhere. It seemed to me that his situation 

 is not favorable ; the ground though slight ly roll- 

 ing, is bordered by a slough, and there is higher 

 ground in the vicinity, though such a thing as a 

 hill is nowhere near. He trenches twc f et d -(^p, 

 but only two and a half feet wide where lie jdunts 

 For experiment he has all the various ldud-\ He 

 does not speak highly of Concord or Hartford Pro- 

 lific. I do not remember that he praised tlse Dela- 

 ware, for he showed some of the vines four years 

 old about three inches high. He showed two rows 

 of Catawba, planted on ground not trem'hf.'d ivhich 

 were poorer th;in any of the rest. He pi ;nts 4xfi, 

 and has strawberries between the rows, vrhich he 

 will take up because they injure the vines. Every 

 one of experience says nothing but grape?, should 

 grow in a vineyard." 



Of the vines of J. Smith 6c Sun we 

 can speak from personal experience, 

 and from that of others. We think 

 them the best grown vines that we have 



