318 iardmr's Jflontpg. 



i that this desideratum will be supplied by the 

 fruit houses on Professor Nyce's system, which are 

 now being established on a large scale in many of 

 our cities; but as this subject will probably be 

 brought to your notice during the session, I for- 

 bear to speak further of it at present. 



The preservation of fruit by drying, canning, 

 &c., appears to me worthy of our attention. 

 Apples and Peaches are preserved by drying, to a 

 large extent, in our country, and Grapes and Plums 

 on a smaller scale ; but I see no reason why they 

 I may not be prepared here in sufficient quantity to 

 j render us independent of foreign countries for our 

 j supply, especially on those parts of the Pacific 

 I coast where the European Grape flourishes, and the 

 I hot, dry summers are similar to those of the 

 1 countries from which we receive our Haisins and 

 \ Figs. Indeed, the making of Raisins has already 

 commenced in«California. 



THE GRAPE. 



In the whole circle of pomological progress 

 there is no branch which excites so much interest, 

 or gives such favorable promise, as the culture of 

 the Grape. At last, the vine, which has been so 

 much neglected or persecuted, from iear of pro- 

 ducing an intoxicating beverage, is becoming the 

 great object of attraction. From the Lakes to the 

 Gulf, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, large tracts 

 of land are being devoted to its growth. Compa- 

 nies and villages are springing up, wealth and 



j enterprise are on the alert, in the belief that this 

 department of fruit-culture is to be the most profit- 



' able. If the same enterprise continues in our land 

 for the next half century, the words of the Psalmist 

 will be realized : "Thou hast brought a vine out of 

 Egypt ; thou preparedst room before it, and didst 

 cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. 

 The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and 

 the boughs thereof were like the goodly Cedars. 



^ She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her 



j branches unto the river." 



I Throughout an extent of territory running over 

 I twenty-five degrees of latitude, and from ocean to 

 ; ocean, the native vine grows spontaneously, is as 

 ' hardy as the forests it inhabits, and ripens as 

 surely as the Apple or any other fruit. All lo- 

 calities are not alike favorable for its growth ; but 

 it may be assumed as a general law, that, where 

 : nature has planted any of our wild species, there 

 : other new and improved sorts may be raised by 

 j hybridization, either natural or artificial, which 

 J will be equally as well adapted to that territory. 

 i The Catawba, Isabella, Concord, Diana, Hartford 

 ! Prolific, Creveling,' and even the Delaware, if it be 



not, as some have supposed, a distinct species, are 

 illustrations of the improvement of the species, or 

 removal from the original type. Every year adds 

 new and valuable varieties of such as are adapted 

 to general ctiltivation of to particular localities. 

 Missouri, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York 

 and New Jersey have vineyards embracing thou- 

 sands of acres. Other States have less quantities ; 

 while California, in whose favored climate the ' 

 European Grape flourishes, has already commenced 

 the exportation of wines and brandies to the Old 

 World. Of the quantity of wine manufactured in 

 the United States, or the crop of grapes, or the < 

 territory devoted to vineyards, I have not the sta- ] 

 tistics ; but Mr. Hussmann, in his late work, esti- j 

 mates that, in the season of 1865, there were | 

 raised and sold in the single town of Hermann, 

 Mo., two million Grape Vines; and these were 

 not sufficient to meet the demand. The same | 

 writer says : "I think I may assert that, ten years | 

 ago, the vineyards throughout the whole country ] 

 did not comprise more than thiee to four thousand \ 

 acres. Now, I think I may safely call them over 

 two millions of acres;" and it is estimated that, at 

 the present rate of planting, in a few years we shall 

 have as many Grape Vines in the United States as 

 in all Europe. That this marvellous expansion of 

 Grape culture has not been without results, is 

 shown by the fact that ninety-five tons of Grapes 

 have been shipped from a single city in Ohio in 

 three days. In an estimate by Mr. F. E. Elliott, 

 Secretary of the Northern Ohio and Lake Shore 

 Grape Growers' Association, we are informed that 

 there are seven thousand acres now set with Grapes, 

 within the bounds of that Association. The same 

 region, in 1865, produced two hundred and seventy- 

 nine thousand gallons of wine, worth, at whole- 

 sale prices, between five and six hundred thousand 

 dollars. Mr. Elliott says : " Had the entire Grape 

 crop of that year been made into wine, the product 

 would have been two million gallons." 



In regard to the wines of our country, I may be 

 permitted to remark that, from many comparisons 

 made between the better samples of American 

 wine, on exhibition at the Paris Exposition, with 

 foreign wines of similar character, as well as from 

 the experience of many Eur:;pean wine-tasters, we 

 have formed a higher estimate of our ability to 

 make good wines than we had before entertained. 

 And from investigations in vine culture, we are 

 now more confident than ever that America can and 

 will be a great wine-producing country. 



All that is necessary for us to rival the choicest 

 products of other parts of the world will, with ex- 



