SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
279 
say, I have lost them all, except one of the Josling’s St. 
Alban’s* So soon as I can make the necessary arrange- 
ments I shall again commence. After the most thorough 
trial, I am perfectly satisfied that the foreign grape can be 
cultivated in this climate with success. The climate is, in 
every respect, adapted to its cultivation, and the soil, 
which in this section is objectionable, t being a heavy 
clay,) is very easily remedied. The ground once proper- 
ly prepared, all that is necessary to ensure success, is a 
judicious system of pruning and training the vines. The 
one, in this climate, is as important as the other, and 
either neglected, must end in disappointment. The rot, 
which is the great evil complained of almost every one 
has undertaken the cultivation of the vine in the Southern 
States, particularly in this latitude, is to be attributed al- 
together to the fatal error they have adopted in both prun- 
ing and training. The preparation of the soil, of course, 
is essential to the health and vigorous growth of the vine, 
and without these we cannot have good fruit; but it is a 
great mistake made by many writers on the subject, that 
certain manures, upon which the vine feeds, and which 
the most of our soils are deficient in, will prevent the rot. 
The close pruning for out door culture, adopted in Europe, 
and the Eastern States particularly, will not answer for 
this climate. The reason is very obvious. The vine is 
too much exposed to the intense heat of our sun ; besides, 
on account of the heat and duration of our summers, a 
vine here, under proper culture, will, in twelve months, 
grow as much as a vine in England will in four years. 
And to adopt the rigid system recommended by Mr. 
Hoare, would ensure a loss of the fruit every year, and, 
in the end. the vine itself. After a vine has became es- 
tablished, say after the first year, (if healthy,) it should 
never be pruned back exceeding one-helf, and sometimes 
not more than one-third, of that year’s g.’owth, unless it 
be the smaller lateral shoots. This will secure a suf- 
ficient foliage to protect the fruit from the rays of the sun, 
ichich is the main cause of the rot. Unlike other fruit, it is 
all-important that the grape be entirely skoAed at every 
stage of its growth and maturity, otherwise if it escape 
the rot, it will be small, hard and insipid. I have knowm 
canvass, aud other artificial means, adopted to shade the 
vines in this climate. This will not answer ; for although 
it will secure the fruit from the rot, yet the rich flavor of 
the grape is impaired, if riot entirely destroyed. The 
natural shade and protection of the fruit is the foliage, 
and the more luxuriant this is, the greater certainty of 
fruit of large size, and rich flavor. After several years’ 
experience with some five hundred vines, I have never 
known an instance in which these suggestions did not 
prove true, both in regard to the native and -foreign varie- 
ties, especially the latter, on account of their thin skin 
and great delicacy. 
“In training the vine, I much prefer the trellis to the 
arbor. As to the kind of grape suited to this climate, I 
would stale, I know of no foreign variety which will not 
succeed in open culture, and I have cultivated many va- 
rieties which cannot be raised in England on account of 
their great delicacy. The true Malaga — on account of its 
exceedingly thin skin, the most difficult — I have cultivat- 
ed in great perfection, and it was pronounced by all who 
tried them, as far superior to the imported Portugal or 
Malaga, as a ripe peach is to a green one. Among the 
foreign varieties, 1 rank first the Muscat of Alexandria; 
no grape can equal it in point of flavor, and I have raised 
them weighing 81-2 lbs. to the bunch, and without an im- 
perfect grape. Next is the Black Hamburgh, and then 
*The cuttings referred to here were hybrid Seedlings, of 
my own growing, and new kinds mostly of recent intro- 
duction from Europe — Allen, 
the Malaga, These three I place at the head of the list of 
foreign grapes. 
“Among thg native varieties, the most valuable I con- 
sider the Scuppernong, which cannot be cultivated at the 
North. It is claimed to be a native North Carolina. This 
is a mistake. It is a Grecian grape known there as the 
AZanb, and from which the finest wines of Greece are 
made.f?] All things considered, it is unsurpassed as a 
table fruit, except by the three foreign varieties I have 
named. As a wine grape, it has not its equal. It will 
yield five gallons ofjuice to the bushel of grapes. The 
fruit in Carolina is far inferior to that raised in this cli- 
mate. In point of flavor, one would hardly recognize it 
as the same grape. This is to be attributed mainly ta 
our long season, the fruit blooming in May, and ripening 
in August and September. The bunches are small, vary- 
ing from three to ten berries each, and when properly 
cultivated, the grapes will average from? 1-2 to 3 inches 
in circumference. If manured with vegetable matter, they 
have but little, if any, pulp. If with bones, or other ani- 
mal manure, they are a richer table fruit, but with more 
pulp, and consequently less valuable as a wine grape. 
The vine is never pruned. It prun-es itself. The knife is 
fatal to it. And, unlike all other grape vines, it will not 
strike root from a cutting, being propagated exclusively by 
layers. The next bestgrape in this climate, of the natives,, 
is the Elsingburgh, and with this the chapter is complete, 
for I know of no other worth the trouble of raising. The 
Isabella is utterly worthless with us ; so is Hyde’s Eliza. 
The Catawba, and Warren grapes, are each better; but 
those who have eaten of either the Alaric or Elsingburgh, 
and especially any of the foreign varieties would never 
undertake the culture of the Isabella or Catawba. 
“I have eaten of the best of this fruit raised by Dr. 
Underhill at Croton Point, near New York, and have 
come to the conclusion that it is impossible to rid the 
Isabella of its pulp, and of that wild native flavor it origin- 
ally had * 
“I have been compelled necessarily to condense my re- 
marks, but allow me to say in conclusion I know of no 
work in this country or Europe in which more valuable 
suggestions upon the subject of Horticulture, and particu- 
ly of the cultivation of the grape vine, are to be found 
than in your publication. With my entire library, it has 
gone to sea, in the gale of 1851. I hope you will supply 
me with a copy of the new edition. Those who have a 
taste for such things, and wish to learn, will be repaid by 
the perusal. 
‘•'Respectfully yours, 
(Signed) “A. G. Semmes.’^ 
[Some of the statements of the Hon. Mr. Semmes are 
almost “too good, &c., &c.,’’ and we are forced to differ 
with him in taste as to the superiority of the Bland over 
Calav:ha and some other matters. Does the experience 
of any other Florida Grape cultivator enable him fully to 
endorse and sustain the positions of “the Hon. gentlemanT’ 
We shall be pleased to hear of more Muscat bunches 
weighing “eight and a half pounds,’’ and will, ourselves, 
be glad to raise them of half that size ! — Eds.] 
Intellect is not the moral power ; conscience is. 
Honor, not talent, makes the gentleman 
*[This gentleman is not partial to the fox flavor of the 
native American Grape. Mariv can be found who are, 
however, and I think this number is increasing, as evi- 
denced by the great sale of this fruit annually, and the im- 
mense quantities now grown by amateurs for their own 
use.— Allen.] 
