1864. 



THE ILLINOIS FAKMER. 



139 



Hardiness of the Delaware Grape. 



Eds. Prairie Farmer : — My attention has been 

 called to an article in jour paper of the 5th ult., 

 from Dr. Shrceder, in which he classes the Dela- 

 ware as a teiider grape — saying that many varieties 

 which he names, are dead, "and the blessed Dela- 

 wares among the rest." 



Now I want to have a little plain talk with you 

 about grape vines in general, and this "blessed 

 Delaware" in particular. The charge which our 

 genial friend, and «. few others in the northwest 

 bring against the Delaware is certainly a slander, 

 and I cannot permit it to pass without correction. 

 Mind, I do not accuse our friend of wilful misrep- 

 resentation. I esteem him to be entirely above 

 such vulgarity — but I believe his mistaken judg- 

 ment of the Delaware to be the result of error or 

 fraud on the part of those "rascally nurserymen" 

 who sold him the vines. I cannot believe, from 

 whaf he saya, — for I have not seen for myself, — 

 that he has a true Delaware on his grounds, unless 

 it may be some miserable culls, propagated from 

 "water shoots," or weak, barren wood, and obtain- 

 ed from that synonym of rascality, a tree pedaler, 

 and which have never borne and probably never 

 will. This state of facts too often met with in the 

 Northwest, the region especially cursed with tree 

 peddlers, is enough to account for nine-tenths of 

 the cases of "tender Delawares." But I am inclin- 

 ed to the opinion that the true solution of this 

 case is to be looked for in another direction. It 

 is probable that tlie doctor has got the old Red 

 Traminer — a tender, foreign variety much resem- 

 bling the Delaware, mixed up with his "hundred 

 and sixty sorts of grapes," under the name of Del- 

 aware. If I am right, then he must indeed "take it 

 to bed with him," as Rosensteil says, if he would 

 have it live in our winters. 



And now for a {ew facts in regard to this "bless- 

 ed Delaware." Everybody, I believe, whose opin- 

 ion is worth having, concedes that the Delaware is 

 head and shoulders above all other natives in its 

 fi-uit, both for wine and table uses, and I now pro- 

 pose only to add the weight of my testimony to the 

 mass of evidence already before the public, in re 

 gard to its hardiness, vigor and prrductiveness. 



Last fall I exhibited at the State Horticultural 

 Fair at Rockford, a fair sample of several hundred 

 two year old Delawares in my grounds at Kenwood. 

 These vines were propagated by myself, from buds 

 or single eyes, from old established vines. The eye* 

 were put into the sand in March, 1861, and the 

 plants turned out into the border in June and July 

 following, without disturbing the roots. The fol- 

 lowing season they made thrifty, handsome canes, 

 which last fall, two years from planting, or exactly 

 eighteen months from the buds, ripened an average 

 of thirty good bunches to the vine, besides making 

 canes for this season's work, averaging fifteen feet 

 in length and at least three-eighths of an inch in 

 diameter. 



Now I would most respectfully ask, what more 

 can Dr. Shroeder or anybody else want in the way 

 of thrift and productiveness ? 



And now, one fact more as to the hardiness of 

 these vines. Last fall, from lack of help, only my 

 bearing vines were protected, while several thou- 

 Band young Delawares in the nursery were left ex- 

 posed through the last terrible winter. They have 

 enduced a tempera^re of thir^d^m b^ov-jtero, 



and there they are for the Doctor or anybody else 

 to examine. I will assure him, however, that they 

 are alive and can speak for themselves. 



Dr. J. Asa Eennicott 

 Chicago, 111., April 1864. 



The above we cut from the Prairie Farrtur for 

 the purpose of giving both parties an opportunity 

 of being heard, for we intend to have not only 

 something to say but something to do with the 

 Delaware. We have before said that the Delaware 

 is a valuable grape in certain locations, and the 

 lake shore at Kenwood is probably one of them. 



As to Dr. Shrceder, he can take care of himself 

 in this matter, and knows the Delaware from the 

 Traminer. 



We have some thousand plants in pots grown 

 from single eyes in the green house, as stated by 

 Dr. K., and shall follow his formula, and if they do 

 well shall be happy to make a note of it. All this 

 bosh about over propagating must have its day. 

 That the grape needs the best of care, and will no? 

 thrive under other conditions^ is the trouble. — Ed. 



Wines. — Sam Patch said that "some things 

 could be done as well as others." And why not? 

 There is a man residing in New-Jersey who is mak- 

 ing thousands out of the sale of elderberry wine, 

 under the name of Sambuci Wine. He purchases 

 large quantities of elderberry (Samiucus vigra) in 

 their season, and make a very palatable wine, which 

 is pronounced by many as delicious, under the 

 name of Sambuci, but would be voted abominable 

 as plain common elderberry. Now I intend mak- 

 ing a large quantity of good old-fashioned farmer's 

 currant wine this season from one of the best re- 

 ceipts published in the Co. Gent., and adver- 

 tise it extensively as Ribes rubrum Wine. I shall 

 take good care to present clergymen, physicians, 

 and others, in dififerent localities, with a bottle to 

 each, to secure their good opinion. I find I am too 

 late to try rhubarb, as that is about to be made so 

 public under the name of Wine Plant, and then 

 the botanical name {Rheum) is so suggestive of salt- 

 rheum and rhumatism that it wouldn't ^ro domi with 

 the public. Look out for sparkling Ribes wine. — 

 Cor. Coimtry Gent. 



Rural N Yorker. — ^While passing through Roch- 

 ester, recently, we dropped in on our friend, Ghas. 

 D. Bragdon, at the sanctum of the Rural New York- 

 er. Busy as ever with pen and scissors, he still found 

 time to entertain an old Illinois friend. Mr. B. is a 

 Western man and thoroughly western in all his 

 ways and notions, and we believe would prefer a 

 residence in Chicago as Western Aid to the CoL; 

 But he is needed in the office, because much of 

 the time of Col. D. D. T. More is required with the 

 publishing of the "Practical Shepherd," now, we 

 believe, already in its fifteenth edition. The Shep- 

 herd is having a big run. — We believe it is a yalu- 

 able book ; have not yet had time to examine it, 

 but shall do so as soon as an opportunity offers. — 

 Rockford Hegist^. 



