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CULTIVATION of the VINE. 



260 



The reafon tor my being filent about vuies that are na- 

 tives of America, Is, that I know but Uttle of them, havuig 

 but juft entered upon a trial of them, when my very 111 

 ftate of health forbad me to proceed : From what little ob- 

 fervation I have been able to make, I look upon them to be 

 much more untradable than thofe of Europe, they will 

 undergo a hard (truggle h^ideed, before they will fubmit to 

 a low and humble (late, a ftate of abje£l flavery: They 

 are very hardy and will ftand a frame, for they brave the 

 fevereft'ftorms and winter blafts, theyftirink not at fnow, 

 ice, hail or rain; the wine they will make, I imagine from 

 the auflerity of their tafle, will be llrong and mafculine. 



The fox-grape, whofe berries are large and round, is 

 divided into three forts, the white, the dark red and the 

 black; the berries grow but thin upon the bunches, which 

 are plain without fhoulders. They delight moft in a rich 

 fandy jome, here they grow very large and the berries are 

 fweeteft, 'but they will grow in any grounds, wet or dry; 

 thofe that grow on high dry grounds generally become 

 white, and the colour alters to a dark red or black, accord- 

 ing to the lownefs and wetnefs of the ground; the fitu- 

 ation I think muft greatly affed the wine, in ftrength 

 goodnefs and colour; the berries are generally ripe the be- 

 ginning of September, and when fully ripe they foon fall 

 away; thus much I have obfcrved as they grow wild. 

 What alteration they may undergo, or how much^ they 

 may be improved by proper foils and due cultivation I 



cannot fay. 



There is a fmall black grape, a fize bigger than the win- 

 ter ^rape, that is ripe in September; it is plcafant to eat, 

 andlnakcs a very pretty wine, which I have drank of, it 

 was four years old, and feemed to be the better for its 

 a'^e- the colour was amber, owing to the want of know- 

 in^^ how to extrad the tindure; this grape is feldom to be 



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Middletown, Monmouth, and there are 

 Mr. LmingJIan's vineyJrd at Pifcataqi 



I think they are well worth propagating 



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