SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
43 
gested, instead of endeavoring to become a manufacturing 
country, should turn all her energies to agriculture. The 
soil is of the most luxurious and fertile description, and 
her geographical position is such that she ought to be 
the most natural granary for all the markets of Europe. 
The wages of labor are low, and the population are in- 
dustrious, yet with all these advantages more than half 
the land is uncultivated, and that which is cultivated is in 
the rudest and most primitive manner. — London 'Times. 
Mr. Paget, the English diplomatic Agent at Lisbon, 
also says : 
“ Portugal should content herself with being an agri- 
cultural country, and supplying the markets of the world 
with grain and wine. ^ 
“ There are districts in which vile wine is made from 
good grapes, although much better wines might be pro- 
duced with less trouble. But of this the manufacturers 
(or rather makers) cannot be convinced even by “ repe- 
tition hammered on their ears.” There is no wine of 
any kind, or anywhere obtainable, that may not be grown 
in Portugal, yet more than half the land is uncultivated, 
and all modern improvements are carefully eschewed. 
This sad state of things is chiefly attributable to' the want 
of roads and means of transport throughout the country. 
Another great bar to progress in Portugal is the absolute 
reliance of every one on the government for every work 
of utility and improvement. Whatever the government 
do not undertake remains undone. * * * * Mr, Pa- 
get, at the close of his report, observes that every wor'< 
of improvement and progress finds the most strenuous 
support in the present intelligent sovereign of the coun- 
try. As regards port wine (of which more hereafter,) 
it is a fallacy to suppose that “ pure” port v.^ine exists, 
as it is invariably mixe'3 with brandy at Villa Nova, and, 
indeed, would not “ keep” without. 
THE VINTAGE IN THE WEST. 
Cincinnati, Sept, 21st, 1858. 
Owing to the very unfavorable weather in May and 
June, our grape crop in the Ohio Valley was almost de- 
stroyed by mildew and rot. The vintage this year will 
therefore be light, scarcely exceeding one-fifth of an aver- 
age yield, or about 40 gallons to the acre. Many vine 
yards have no grapes, some only a third or fourth of a crop, 
and a few, but very few, in favored positions, tolerably 
fair crops. This is the case in the Ohio and Mississippi 
valley, on all the limestone formations. On the sandstone 
soils, some good crops are found, and also on Kelley’s 
Island, opposite Sandusky City, where the atmostphere 
is tempered by the water of Lake Erie. The soil is a 
mixture of clay and sand, underlaid by limestone rock 
In some parts of Tennessee^ Georgia, and North and. 
South Carolina, sood crops of grapes have been gathered 
this year, notv'iihstanding tha,t the early shoots were de- 
stroyed by frost on the ^Ith of Aprit. 'This applies to the 
mountainous districts of those States, where the grape is 
found to flourish best, and where, I believe, they have a 
more favorable region for the cultivation of the vine than 
■' we have in the Ohio valley. 
This is the worst year for the grape we have ever had; 
and yet we are not discouraged. All crops are subject 
to casualties and ar^^ affected by the weather, and why 
should the grape form an exception '? The apple crop in 
all this region of country is almost an entire failure, from 
ihe same cause that destroyed the grapes, viz, mildew 
produced by the cold and wet weather in May and June, 
We have had no good grape crop here since 1853. The 
yield that year was very great — on some vineyards enor- 
mous, Since then, the croos have been light, but none 
so small as the present one. 
Last year the vineyards rn Missouri produced larger 
crops than they ever die before ; this year, no better than 
ours. In France and Germany, the vineyards suffered 
severely, for four or five years, from a disease celled the 
“ oidium.” But, by the applications of sulphur and other 
remedies, the vines were restored to a healthy condition, 
and produced good crops last year and this. 
Many remedies have been suggested for mildew and 
rot — but however plausible in theory, they have, thus 
far, all failed in practice. No system of planting, culti- 
vation, or pruning, can conquer diseases caused by bad 
weather and atmospheric changes. They may be slight- 
ly ameliorated, and this is about all we can hope for. 
Some varieties of grapes are less subject to these disea- 
ses than others, but none are entirely exempt from them. 
Even the different varieties of the Fox grape — with their 
thick..skin and hard pulp — suffer more or less every un- 
favorable season. 
But with all these drawbacks, the cultivation of the 
vine is too widely extended and firmly established in our 
country, to be abandoned for the discouragements of a 
few bad seasons, and we must persevere, in hopes of 
better success in future. 
R. Buchanan. 
{Journal of Commerce. 
EMIGRATION WEST — GEORGIANS WANTED! 
Editors Southern Cultivator — 1 want the “ Culti- 
vator'^ another year, being the third I have taken it. 
Every intelligent man, who cultivates an acre of ground 
South, ought to have it, for the large amount of practical, 
as well as scientific information it contains, of interest 
and importance to the Agriculturist. 1 have found it of 
great value to me on the little piece of “ mother earth” 
where I have made my suburban home, an amateur til- 
ler of the soil. 
In your last number, you discourage emigration from 
your State. When I have leisure, with your permission, 
I would like to show that you are wrong in this, and that 
the great interest you are advancing, the Agricultural 
dignity and importance of our common South, as also, 
the well-being of many of your planters and their chil- 
dren, argue against you The iron rail has made us as 
one people, has made us neighbors, breaking through 
State lines and mountain barriers, and obliterating time 
and space, so that, being thus a common people, our in- 
terests are in truth common, whether we settle among you 
of old Georgia, or you come among us of the new and 
vigorous West. “ The “ Empire State of the South” can 
spare much of her wealth and enterprise which, there is 
necessarily inert, comparatively, but here, in the West, 
would be highly productive and cumulative, and thereby, 
equally honorable to big hearted old Georgia. Though 
we had the pleasure, some time ago, of seeing some of 
your people among us, yet most others in those old States 
have HO just conception of the magnitude and capacity of 
this country, agriculturally, or of the rapidity and per- 
manency of its growth. And, in fact, Messrs Editors, 
from all we saw and felt of your people, also, in your 
own State, we are rather more than anxious that Geor- 
gians should come among us. But I must stop. 
Respectfully, J* T. G. 
Memphis, Tennessee , 1858.. 
“Think’st thou there is no tyranny but that 
Of blood and chains ! The despotism of vice — 
The weakness and wickedness of luxury— 
The negligence— the apathy— the evils 
Of sensual sloth— pro uce ten thousand tyrants, 
Whose delegated cruelty surpass 
The worst acts of one energetic master, 
However harsh and hard in his own bearing.” 
[Bybon. 
