GRAPE-VINE. 71 
kept cultivated by frequent hoeing, and during ten years 
never applied manure. 
The main source of destruction to foreign grape-vines 
in the American climate appears to be not so much in the 
severity of the winter frosts as in the sudden return of cold 
spells. Foreign vines seem to commence the free circula- 
tion of their sap earlier than the native kinds, and thus are 
exposed to having their circulating juices frozen, to the 
certain destruction of the vines. 
In England the Vine-culture is limited to the produc- 
tion of a costly luxury for the tables of the wealthy. But 
in the United States the raising of the grape hag for its 
object not only a supply of wholesome and delicious fruit 
for eating, but for the production of wine. It is, however, 
only within the last year or two that the efforts of those 
who have devoted attention to wine-making have met with 
decided and even brilliant success, and that the Cincinnati 
wine-makers have demonstrated the practicability of pro- 
ducing an American wine that will bear competition with 
some of the best of Europe. 
Among native American grapes yet brought into suc- 
cessful cultivation, the Isabella, as has been already stated, 
is the most hardy, and may be raised in the open air as far 
north as the St. Lawrence. It bears long, tapering 
bunches, with few shoulders, the berries being oval, jet- 
black, and covered with a fine bloom or white flower. The 
skin is thick, the flesh very sweet, though a little pulpy, 
with a slight musky flavor. The vine is of a brownish-red 
color, and very strong, the leaves being large and three- 
lobed, coated underneath with white down. ‘he wine 
made from it is sometimes good, resembling light, Madeira. 
. The Catawba bears. bunches rather regularly formed, 
with a few shoulders. The berries are round and of a cop- 
