THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



laeboteii to Agriculture, ®ortfculture, an* the ©ouseholfc Am. 



Agriculture is the nursing mother of the I Tillage and Pasturage are the two breasts 

 Arts. — Xenophon. I of the State. — Sully. 



Vol. X. RICHMOND, SEPTEMBER, 1850. No. 9. 



R. B. GOOCH, Editor. 



From Downing's Horticulturist. 

 DOMESTIC WINE. 



To sit under our own vine and fig tree, with 

 no one to make us afraid, is the most ancient 

 and sacred idea of a life of security, content- 

 ment and peace. In a national sense, we think 

 we may begin to lay claim to this species of 

 comfort, so largely prized by our ancestors of 

 patriarchal ages. The southern states have 

 long boasted their groves and gardens of fig 

 trees; and there is no longer any doubt regard- 

 ing the fact, lhat the valley of the Ohio, with 

 its vine-clad hills, will soon afford a resting 

 place for millions of cultivators, who may sit 

 down beneath the shadow of their own vines, 

 with none to make them afraid. 



There has been so much "stuff," of all de- 

 scriptions, made in various parts of the country 

 under the name of domestic wine — ninety-nine 

 hundredths of which is not half so good or so 

 wholesome as poor cider— that most persons 

 whose palates are accustomed to the fine pro- 

 ducts of France, Spain or Madeira, have, after 

 tasting of the compounds alluded to, concluded 

 that it was either a poor piece of patriotism, 

 or a bad joke,— this trying to swallow Ameri- 

 can wine. 



On the other hand, various enterprising 

 Frenchmen, observing that the climate of a 

 large part of the Union ripened peaches and 

 other fruits better than that of their own coun- 

 try, naturally concluded that if they brought 

 overtheright kindsof French winegra pes wine 

 must be produced here as good as that made at 

 home. Yet, though the experiment has been 

 tried again and again by practical vignerons, 

 who know the mysteries of cultivation, and 

 wine merchants who had an abundance of 

 capital at their command, there is no record 

 of one single case of even tolerable success. 

 In no part of the United States is the climate 

 adapted to the vineyard culture of the foreign 

 grape. 



So much as this was learned, indeed twenty 

 years ago. But was the matter to be given up 

 in this manner'? Could it be possible that a 

 vast continent, over which from one end to the 

 other, the wild grape grows in such abundance 

 that the Northmen, who were perhaps the first 

 discoverers, gave it the beautiful name of Vjn- 

 land, should never be the land of vineyards'? 

 There were at least two men who still believed 

 Vol. X— 9. 



P. D. BERNARD, Proprietor. 



wine-making possible; and who, twenty years 

 ago, noticing that the foreign grape proved 

 worthless in this country, had faith in the good 

 qualities of indigenous stock. 



We mean of course, Major Adlum, of the 

 District of Columbia, and Nicholas Long- 

 worth, Esq. of Ohio. Both these gentlemen, 

 after testing the foreign grape, abandoned it, 

 and took up the most promising native sorts; 

 and both at last settled upon the Cataicba, as 

 the only wine grape, yet known, worthy of 

 cultivation in America. 



Major Adlum planted a vineyard, and made 

 some wine, which we tasted. 'It was of only 

 tolerable quality ; but it proved that good wine 

 can be made of native grapes, the growth of 

 our own soil. And though Adlum was not a 

 thorough cultivator, he published a volume on 

 the culture of native grapes, which roused 

 public attention to the subject. He made the 

 assertion before he died, that in introducing 

 the Catawba grape to public attention, he had 

 done more for the benefit of the country than 

 if he had paid off our then existing national 

 debt. And to this sentiment there are many 

 in the western states who are ready now to sub- 

 scribe heartily. 



Mr. Longworth is a man of different stamp. 

 With abundant capital, a great deal of patriot- 

 ism, and a large love of the culture of the soil, 

 he adds an especial talent for overcoming ob- 

 stacles, and great pertinacity in carrying his 

 point. What he cannot do himself, he very 

 well knows how to find other persons capable 

 of doing. Hence he pursued quite the oppo- 

 site system from those who undertook the na- 

 turalization of the foreign grape. He adver- 

 tised for native grapes of any and every sort, 

 planted all and tested all; and at last, he too 

 has come to the conclusion that the Catawba 

 is the wine grape of America. 



"What sort of wine does the Catawba 

 make?" inquiries some of our readers, who 

 like nothing but Madeira and Sherry; "and 

 what do you think will be the moral effect of 

 making an abundance of cheap wine ?" asks 

 some ultra temperance friend and reader. — 

 We will try to answer both of these questions. 



The natural wine which the Catwba makes 

 is a genuine hock — a wine so much like the or- 

 dinary wines of the Rhine, that we could put 

 three of the former bottles among a dozen of 

 the latter, and it would puzzle the nicest con- 

 noisseur to select them by either color or fla- 



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