496 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTEK. 



[August 



don, respecting the capacity of this country 

 to produce wine. Mr. Erskine has collect- 

 ed some valuable statistics and reliable in- 

 formation on this subject since his sojourn 

 in this country, which he has transmitted to 

 the Foreign Office, and which have been pub- 

 lished in the English journal. 



For 'this report, says the New Orleans 

 Crescent, it appears that wines were made 

 in this country, in the territory which now 

 comprises the States of Indiana and Mis- 

 souri, as long ago as the latter part of the 

 last century. It was a cheap red wine, pal- 

 atable to the taste, but not enough so to su- 

 persede the wines of France and Grermany. 

 It vfas only about the year 1830 that the 

 Catawba, a native Am.erican grape, first 

 came into notice, and began to be used and 

 cultivated regular^ for the making of native 

 wine. The Catawba was found grov*^ing wild 

 near Washington City, resembling the fox 

 grape somewhat, and producing a wine 

 which, though disagreeable at first, gradual- 

 ly grows upon the taste, until it is preferred 

 by those x^ho habitually use it to the best 

 brands of foreign importation. 



The climate best adapted to the growth of 

 the Catawba grape is the dry climate west 

 of the Alleghanies, removed from the mois- 

 ture of the sea coast. In the neighborhood 

 of Cincinnati, and all along the parallel of 

 latitude through Indiana, Illinois and AVis- 

 consin, the Catawba grape flourishes, and is 

 easily produced. It is generally believed 

 that Nich Longworth, the great wine-king 

 of Cincinnati, monopolises the culture of 

 the Catawba grape in that region, but this 

 is a mistake. On all the hills surrounding- 

 Cincinnati, both on the Kentucky and the 

 Ohio sides wherever there is a Southern ex- 

 posure, may be found vineyards belonging 

 to industrious Germans and Swiss, who un- 

 derstand the culture of the grape and the 

 manufacture of wine, and who derive a good 

 profit from their labor in this branch of in- 

 dustry. 



" But it Is not alone in the neighborhood 

 of Cincinnati that the Catawba is cultivated. 

 Besides the three thousand acres that are 

 under cultivation there, it is estimated that 

 there are thousands of acres devoted to this 

 purpose in Indiana, in Missouri and Illinois, 

 and in Georgia and the two Carolinas. This 

 refers only to those places in which the Ca- 

 tawba grape is regularly raised as a crop. 

 Of course there are also thousands of acres 

 in the different States appropriated to the 



culture of the grape and the manufacture of 

 native wine, by people who use it only for 

 domestic consumption, and never enter the 

 market to sell it. The total production of 

 wine at the present time is estimated to be 

 two millions of gallons annually — and the 

 amount is increasing every year. The cen- 

 sus which is to be taken the present year 

 will show, we doubt not, a greater compara- 

 tive increase in the product of this particu- 

 lar branch of industry, within the last 'de- 

 cade, than any other in the country. 



The State of Missouri alone has an area 

 suitable for grape culture larger than the 

 wine-growing districts of France. In Ken- 

 tucky and Tennessee, in Middle and Wes- 

 tern Virginia, in Western Texas, and in 

 California, the vine grows in great perfec- 

 tion, producing an abundance of good pala- 

 table wine. In short, there is scarcely any 

 section of the Union below the fortieth par- 

 allel of latitude in which domestic wine may 

 not be made, and sold at a profit, by people 

 who understand the culture. 



" The Catawba wine is made and sold in 

 Cincinnati and St. Louis by wholesale at 

 about one dollar a bottle. There are many 

 who prefer it to genuine champagne. Eve- 

 rybody prefers it to the imitation bogus 

 champagne which is manufactured in New 

 York. But there are other grapes besides 

 the Catawba to which our climate and soil 

 are adapted, and we see no reason why we 

 may not produce within our own limits al- 

 most every variety of wine that the popular 

 taste may demand. The Germans in Wes- 

 tern Texas, we understand, are making a 

 red wine, much resembling clarat, and very 

 palatable. We may at least manufacture 

 all the varieties of red and white wines that 

 are made in Europe, depending upon im- 

 portation for our Ports and Madeiras alone. 



" The people of this country pay a higher 

 price for wines than any other people on 

 earth, because there is a heavy duty on them 

 in addition to the original cost and the cost 

 of importation. If we made our wines at 

 home, as we easily can, we would not only 

 get them cheaper, but have a guarantee of 

 their genuineness. Besides this, every body 

 knows that in countries where wine is plenti- 

 ful and cheap there is less consumption of 

 those strong, fiery liquors, manufactured out 

 of all sorts of poisonous drugs, which are 

 the fruitful causes of so much crime and 

 distress. It is therefore in the interest of 

 mortality as well as economy and comfort, 



