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The Mexicans who live on the Helotes (tributary of Leon Creek) in Bexar Oo. , 

 distil a very good brandy from it. Also at and in Parras (Mexico) much brandy is 

 said to be made from it, so I am told by a Mexican youth who had been stolen by the 

 Comanches at Parras and whom I bought free from the Indians. Since the Internal 

 Revenue has learned about distilling brandy, the distilling from Bear grass has 

 been abandoned here in Texas. 



What bearing (influence) does wetness or dryness have on dry-rot, which occurs 

 so often on grapes? Or is there no connection in this occurence, or is the dry-rot 

 dependent on the nature of the grapes or the climatic or other conditions? Up here 

 the El Paso grape in dry years often is a total loss because of dry-rot, whereas it 

 thrives excellently in cert^in locations in the heavy soil of New Braunfels, and 

 at El Paso in sandy soil, where it is grown only with Irrigation and never suffers 

 from dry-rot. It seems there for that it suffers from dry-rot when it grows in a 

 dry area. The Black Spanish grows excellently at New Braunfels also without 

 watering; at Friedrichsburg in much lighter black, sandy ground, it often suffers 

 from dry-rot. 



With great interest I have read your treatise about grape vines in Bush's 

 Catalogue (Bushberg Jefferson Co. Mo.), but could find nothing in it about dry-rot 

 and its causes, nor remedies against it. 



If the cause of dry-rot is to be found only in dryness then, by means of 

 regulär watering of the El Paso grapes, one could here accomplish the same certain 

 harvests as at El Paso, Parras, etc. 



As usual I will be looking for fruits of 0. Davisii , if after all there are 

 not individual ones to be found with seeds. 



Respectfully, Your faithful 

 John # Meusebach 



