SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
247 
and that you may long enjoy the honor of introducing to 
the notice of the world what now stands at the head of all 
American Native Grapes — Murray’s “Catawba.” 
Your friend truly, 
Silas McDowell. 
Pranklin, Macon Co.^ N. C., Jane 16, 1859. 
GRAPES NEAR THE GROUND RIPEN EAR- 
liest. 
At a late meeting of the Cincinnati Horticultural Soci- 
ety, the following letter ofiMons. J. Fournier, the dirtctor 
or chief of Mr. Longworth’s wine cellars, was received. 
We extract from the Society’s Minutes: 
The following highly important and interesting com- 
munication from Mr. J. Fournier to Mr. R. Buchanan, 
was read and ordered to be engrossed with the minutes of 
the day : 
CiNCiNNATTi, April 30, 1859. 
R. Buchanan — Dear Sir : — I send you a translation 
from the Courrier de la Ckampagne, about vineyards and 
wine : 
“Every person knows that all the grapes growing near- 
est the ground are reaped the first. 
1 made, this year, an experiment for my own satisfaction. 
I kept some grapes twenty-five millimetres above the 
ground, and the others at three feet. The most of the first 
gave ten degrees of Barometer, the second, nine and a 
half degrees. 
I have repeated this experiment several times. There 
was no difference in the result. You can see by the den- 
sity of this must, that an elevation of seventy-five centi- 
metres from the ground reduced the saccharine matter one- 
twentieth. This experiment proves how deficient the 
wine is, produced by the vines elevated on trees. 
I have remarked that the Riresaltes Muscat wine had 
a taste very similar to dry grapes ; though this wine has 
been made with grapes not very ripe. This is the rea- 
son : It is a usage at Riresaltes to let one branch of every 
stalk of vine spread along on the ground. Ihe grapes of 
these branches are reaped first and dried, communicating 
to the Muscat the particular and celebrated taste that 
distinguishes it from every other wine.” 
I should like to see some intelligent vine-dresser of this 
country make this same experiment. 
With my best regard, believe me, gentlemen. 
Your very humble servant, 
J. Fournier, 
WINE MAKING IN TRE SOUTH. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — As the subject of 
Wine Making is, at this time, one of much interest to 
your readers, I send you the following extract from a let- 
ter on the subject. It is from a gentleman of much ex- 
perience : 
“To make Catawba or Scuppernong Wine, the first 
requisite is good ripe grapes. Gather on a fair day after 
the dew is off. Mash all you gather in the day and put 
the mashed grapes, pumace, or marc, in a stand as you 
would peaches eifter beating (I have them mashed with 
the hand in a tub) let the whole stand until a slight de- 
gree of fermentation commences— say 10 to 24 hours ac- 
cording to the heat of the weather. Then draw off the 
must or juice, and subject the pumace to the action of a 
press, until all the must -is separated from it. The next 
peint is to decide when to put the pumace to tne press. 
Take it too soon and you lose part of your must. Let 
it work too much and your wine will have a roughness 
imparted to it from the foot-stalks and hulls. 
1 should have added, before you mash, pick off all rot- 
ten and green berries and cut off the foot-stalks close to 
the grapes. When I begin to mash I ascertain the weight 
of the must by the hydrometer. (When good and the 
grape ripe, it will mark 10'^ on Baume’s hydro.meter.) I 
then take a gallon of the must and weigh and add loaf of 
crushed sugar till it marks 16 1-2 or even 17° by the in- 
strument. After this is measured, the sugar is added, and 
all turned into a clean, and sweet cask. I never fumigate 
with sulphur, with fresh must. It requires 1 1-2 1 3-4 
lbs. sugar to the gallon. Reserve 6 to 8 per cent, of the 
tempered must to fill up with Place your barrel high 
enough to decant the next spring into a fresh barrel with- 
out moving it. For the first week fill up every day, leav- 
ing the bung open for tw’o or three days, or until a white 
foam begins to work out — then drop in your bung and 
fill up every other or every third day. When the fermen- 
tation subsides to a fret, tighten the bung, but place a 
small gimlet hole by its side with a plug dropped loosely 
in it. Finally, when all fermentation is over, drive all 
tight. 
On the following March decant into a fresh barrel, fu- 
migated with a sulplxir match. On the third year and 
after the second decanting, the wine will be potable. 
The Scuppernong must is treated by adding one pound 
loaf sugar and one quart good brandy to each gallon of 
must, and then treat it as the other. 
Last year I varied by process with the Catawba juice, 
I added one quart brandy and one pound sugar to each 
gallon of must, as with the Scuppernong. It will make a 
good wine one year sooner; but the cost of the brandy is 
an object now— next fall it may be lower.” 
Yours, H. B . 
Far the Southern Cultivator. 
TO THE VINES OF “VINELAND.” 
FROM THE “tea” OF TORCH HILL. 
Respectfully tendered from '•'■One^'' side of the State to the 
“ Other /” 
1 . 
New “Vinelands” for another Rhine ! 
New Banks for Blue Moselle ! 
New lands of Promise! and new Wine 
To treat New-Comers well ! 
No Etna- crags ! no lava rills! 
No black Vesuvian cliffs! 
Now stake one Vine on Georgia’s Hills, 
To ten on Teneriffe’s! 
Now down with all the old-field pines ! 
Now death to yellow sedge ! 
Ye blood-red gullies! blush with wines. 
Celestial to the edge ! 
For what doth make a land appear 
The loveliest of lands; 
So soft through Exile’s parting tear, 
So warm in welcome hands'! 
HI. 
The Vine ! The Vine! In the lands 
Beneath its light and bloom. 
Most golden of the “ Missal bands ” 
That bind the “Book” of Home ! 
New Vinelands for another Rhine ! 
New Banks for Blue Moselle ! 
New Lands of Promise and — “New Vines 
That also promise well !” 
