206 THE CULTDEE OF THE GRAPE. 



" The berries of this grape are very large. I have fre- 

 quently measured selected ones, and found them to be 

 three and a half, and some few, four inches round. 

 They are more easily gathered than other kinds. A large 

 sheet, with poles fastened to two sides, is held under the 

 canopy, and a third person shakes the canopy above, 

 with a forked pole, and all the ripe grapes fall into the 

 sheet, and the green ones remain on. They are ripening 

 here about two months ; and that period ensures succes- 

 sive gatherings, and the most delidov^ of gra,pe fruit. It 

 is a peculiarly southern grape ; and for the south it is, 

 doubtless, the best grape in the world, considered in all 

 respects. I learn this grape does well everywhere south 

 of latitude 37° N., when properly managed, and this is, 

 to trim enough, in the first stages of its growth, to pre- 

 vent its becoming bushy, and afterwards, (say fifty years, 

 or no telling how long a vine will flourish,) to keep, by 

 scaficildiug, the canopies clear underneath of all strag- 

 gling or hanging down branches, six or eight feet high. 

 Tliis being not done, the vines will surely fail to bear 

 well, and to have the fruit in perfection. 



" My Halifax, I estimate next to the Scuppernong 

 grape. It runs or spreads to a great extent. From my 

 study, I see the top of an apple tree covered with fine 

 large clusters, and by measurement, with a ten-foot pole, 

 I find the tree forty feet distant from where the main 

 stem of the vine stands, to the ground, and the tree is 

 twenty feet high. The berry is as large as a common 

 bullet, and the clusters of uncommon size. It changes 

 its color to a bright purple,' long before it ripens, and is 

 a good table grape. The Norton Virginia Seedling, next 



