SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
/ 
53 
GRAPES IN TEXAS. 
Editors Sodthbrn Cultivator — As you are doubt- 
fes« aware, this city is directly upon the bank of the Rio 
Grand, opposite the city ot Matamoras, Mexico, and 25 
miles from the mouth of the Eio Grande and the Gulf of 
Mexico. 
I have made some experiments with Grapes, and have 
CTCceeded well. I believe the soil and climate of this val- 
ley are as well adapted to the culture of the vine as any 
portion of France, Frenchmen pronounce my vines 
equal to any they ever saw in France, and equally pro- 
iuetive. We are free from mildew and insects. I have 
low an abundance of ripe ones. 
I am ignorant ot the proper mode of cultivation, ex- 
•epting what I have accidentally picked up within the 
tast few years Your obedient servant, I. B. B. 
Brownsville^ Texas, 185H. 
MUSTANG WINE IN TEXAS. 
OtJR old friend and correspondent, Thomas Afflbck, 
tike well known horticulturist, writes as follows, in the 
Houston Ttlegra.pk: 
“ Our Eutaw friend requests me to ‘ detail the modus 
of wine- making from the Mustang Grape; the 
manner of obtaining the juice ; the amount of water used, 
if any,’ and so on. 
“ Although tolerably conversant with the manner of 
making wine, as practiced in the difR-rent countries of 
Europe, and about Cincinnati, &c , I find that there is 
much to learn from practice and experience, with a grape 
Kke the Mustang, newly employed for the purpose, or, 
at least, of which we have no written experience For 
my part, I have been mainly a looker on, this year ; a pu- 
pil of M. Gerard. Until this experience in a small way, 
in 1656, I had strong doubts whether a wine made from 
juice of the Mustang would keep in this climate with- 
eut the addition of spirit or of sugar which becomes 
spirit. The wine made that year, and that, too, with very 
•rdinary means, such as tubs, &c , was excellent, and 
kept perfectly ; being now sound and good ; vastly im- 
proved indeed by age. Nothing was used but the juice 
•f the grape, pressed by tramping. 
“ This year the Grapes were gathered by plucking off 
ill bunches with the finger and thumb. Every second 
•vening, the grapes thus gathered, during the two days, 
were run through one of W. 0 Hickok’s Cider Mills, 
|made at Harrisburg, Pa., and an excellent machine it is 
lot the pui pose) juice, skins, pulp and seeds all running 
directly into a fermenting tub. Fermentation commences 
immediately ; the mass rising to a considerable height, 
•are being taken fiot to break the crust or mass of skins, 
fcc. To say what ‘the proper temperature should be’ or 
iie ‘length of time required fi r fermenting,’ &c., is impos- 
sible for me as yet. My cellar is 30 by 15, and ten foot 
deep, with a stout roof of cedar, covered with earth, and 
kept as cool as possible. The time required for ferment- 
mg varies from 60 to 80 hours; andean only be deter- 
omaed by the nose! The tub may be tapped with a gimb- 
tet, and a little wine drawn off. When it runs clear and 
pirells — well, like wine, is the best direction, it may be 
drawn off and barrelled. Fill the barrel and lay on the 
kung reversed, so as not to be tight. After from two to 
tluree weeks, the wine may be drawn oflT clear, and still 
fiirther clarified with the white of egg Then, when ful 
^ settled, say in two or four weeks, it may be bottled off, 
•Tracked off again into casks to remain until wanted. 
“ When the wine has been drawn trom the tub, until it 
iegtns to appear muddy, stop it ; then add three or four 
buckets of water to each barrel of grapes in the tub, and 
allow another fermentation, when the result will be 
f^fnetle ot petit vin — the most excellent drink imaginable 
during warm weather; and may be drank as soon as 
made, It will not keep long 
“ These directions might be greatly extended. But the 
fact is that those who desire to do more than make, a few 
barrels for their own use, had better employ some one in 
the first instance who understands fully the process 
“ I intended planting in vineyard — the Mustang Grape 
— every foot of land under tillage this coming fall. 
“ Mustang wine requires age, and repeated racking oflT 
and other manipulaiions, to bring it to anything like the 
degree of perfection it is capable of being brought to. It 
is an excellent wine, but in its natural state contains a very 
large proportion of tartaric acid, which, however, it pre- 
cipitates in the cask with time. Drs Key, Graves, Red, 
and other practicing physicians here, prescribe it, when- 
ever to be had, as the best of all tonics to patients in « 
state of convalescence ; and especially after low fevers.” 
GRAPE GROWING IN LOUISIANA, 
Editors Southern Cultivator — I believe I am the first 
who attempted the culture of the vine in the State of 
Louisiana. If you know any one who commenced before 
I would like to know it. If there is no person en-aged in 
that culture on a large scale before me, please take notice 
and mention in your valuable journal that I am the first 
who began the culture of the vine in the State of Louisi- 
ana. 
I am at this moment clearing 15 acres more; then next 
spring I will have about 25 acres, and 1 intend to continue 
year after year, until I will have 50 acres. 
Being a novel culture here, I am dai.y exposed to the 
ridicule and blame of my neighbors. 
Prognosticating that 1 am going to lose eight or ten 
thousand dollars in ihe experiment ; notwithstanding, I go 
to work with a strong and confident heart. I want en- 
couragement; and I find it every month in reading vour 
valuable journal. Like you, lam for pmgress, and I think 
if 1 succeed, it will be great acquisition for the upper State 
of Louisiana ; we have so many hills — land selling at 
one dollar an acre, and finding no one to buy at that low 
price— but, if success crowns me, these lands will soon 
increa.se in value. 
Yours, &c., P. Breda, M. D. 
Nat-chitoches, La , 1858 
JAPANESE HORTICULTURE. 
Unites States Consular General, ) 
At Simoda, Japan. ) 
Sir: — A letter from your Department, dated July 14, 
1856, and addressed to this Consulate, was not received 
until the 20th of October, 1857. I have not had an op- 
portunity of communicating with any part of the world 
since the receipt of that letter, and it is quite uncertain 
when I shall be able to dispatch the present letter. 
The statements in the “ World in Miniature '' concern- 
ing the Japan Radish, are much exaggerated It is true 
that radishes are grown in every part of Japan, but no 
where are they a principal article offiiod ; they are mere- 
ly an adjunct to the rice, wheat and barley, which are the 
great staples of the country 
I ordered the best specimens of the long radish to be 
brought to me when I first visited Yeddo; the. longest 
were less than thirty inches in length, and about one inch 
in diameter; this radish, when dried, loses more than 
three-fourths of its bulk, and looks very like a whip- 
thong. With the long radish specimens of another 
kind were brought to me. These were shaped like our 
parsnips. The largest measured eighteen inches long, fif- 
teen inches in circumference, and weighed four lbs, five 
oz avoirdupois. 
All of the radishes of Japan, when used as a salad, are 
