SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
155 
ite recent advancement. His “Instructions” for the analy- 
ses named are alike plain, reliable and satisfactory, and 
fill a small book of 100 pages, which may be had of C. 
M. S. 1 XTON & Co., Agricultural Book publishers. New 
York, for 37 cents. It is published by S. B. Shaw, Cleve- 
land, Ohio. L, 
iintticttltEittl StpartintEt. 
THE GRAPE— ITS CULTURE IN THE SOUTH— VARIE- 
TIES-WINE MAKING, &C. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — It should be a mat- 
ter of great encouragement for us Southerners to know 
that the varieties of Native Grapes, embracing all the finest 
and best, most extensively cultivated for wine or table at 
the North and at the Wast, all hail from the Carolinas and 
Georgia. Nature has wonderfully favored us in this re- 
spect, but, as usual, we have been slow in appreciating 
the precious gifts bestowed upon us, and our neighbors 
have gone far in advance of us in turningthem to account. 
Thus we see in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and other 
Western States, thousands of acres groaning under the 
weight of our precious Catawba, which is with them the 
*‘Nepl'us uUra.'^ While at the North, our own sweet Isa- 
bella charms them with her beauty, and delights them with 
her sweet and more solid qualities. 
But if we have been slow thus far in valuing the worth 
©f our two charming daughters, let us recall them to us, 
and by showing them proper attention, and placing be- 
tween them the too long neglected Warren, we will be 
amply repaid for our trouble, and others, encouraged by 
©ur success, -will cover the entire surface of our piney 
■woods with the rich luxuriant foliage, and then may we 
hope to see on the table of the poor as well as of the rich, 
the bottle of Carolina or Georgia wine. 
SEEDLINGS. 
We would now suggest to all persons about to engage, 
in or already engaged in the culture of the Vine, the ad- 
Tantage of planting every year a box of seeds. Most per- 
Bons are aware that new and valuable varieties of all 
plants are only obtained from the seed : heretofore the in- 
dustiy of the busy little Bee, or the soft breath of zephyrs, 
by mixing the pollen of different species, have alonegiven 
to the world all the varieties of each species. Now expert 
gardeners leave nothing to chance; the marriages (why 
Botuse the proper word) are consummated at the altar of 
Science. Tiie anthers of the flower from which it is de- 
sired to obtain hybrids aTe dexterously removed liefore 
they have obtained maturity, previous to the discharging 
©f the farina; the pistils are kept from the contact of any 
other pollen, until sufficiently advanced to receive the fer- 
tilizing substance, when a flower from the chosen species 
is shaken over them in such a way as to throw the pollen 
TOj on the head of the pistil, which, when prepared to re- 
ceive it, is moist with gluten. This operation requires 
much nicety, and must be done precisely at the proper 
time, otherwise it will be attended with disappointmer.t. 
1 have only mentioned it here, en pnssaiit, as one of the 
triumphs of Science, and would not advise our friends to 
dep< nd altogeriier upon this method, nor to desj.ise the 
chance mixture of Nature; she has hitherto treated us 
very well, and will no duubt continue to furnish fine and 
improved varieties from common seeds produced through 
the niini.>try of the Bee. 
Plant, then, seeds ; rear your seedlings wdth care, and 
your efibrts will probably be crowned with success. But 
here arises a question : Must we plant seed from the al- 
ready improved varieties, or must we go back to the wild 
Grape of the woods to seek new kinds 1 Here, as is often 
the case, theory and practice point different courses : 
theory teaches us that culture improves all things : wit- 
ness what it has doue for the Peach, originally a small 
poisonous fruit of Asia, so different from the splendid and 
luscious Peach of our day ; witness the vast number of 
Pears and Apples, etc., vieing with each other in beauty 
and flavor, so different from the original wild Crab. Very 
true, all this, but practice points to the Catawba, the Isa- 
bella, the Warren, &c , &c., some certainly and all most 
probably immediate offsprings of the w'oods; they are all 
fine fruit : their seeds have been sown, and so far, nothing 
has been produced to compare to them. Thus we have 
within reach, proof positive, that until now the finest 
varieties are immediately from the wild parents ; and that 
seeds from them have failed to improve any further. We 
must not, therefore, leave it to birds to plant wild seeds 
for us, and we must take it for granted that the parents 
which have produced the above kinds will produce others 
equal and superior to them. Without discarding the sys- 
tem of planting seeds from the best, I would fully advise 
all desirous of assisting in the good cause, to procure seeds 
from the several wild species, and plant them in separate 
beds ; it would be advisable to label them carefully, in or- 
der that each might be recognized afterwards. 
Is it not possible, nay probable, that our neighbors in 
Europe are sufiering from too much culture 1 Although a 
digression from my starting point, I cannot help offering 
an example or two. Grape vines, we are told, are perish- 
ing in all the old wine countries, and no remedy has been 
found to prevent the evil. I will tell them, your vines have 
been too much cultivated; they have become too refined;, 
they have lost that wild, coarse, if you like, but strong 
growth of their forefathers. If I may be allowed a simile, 
they are like the inhabitants of large cities in olden times, 
who became effeminate by riches and luxuries, and were 
replaced by barbarians fresh from Nature. Our vigorous 
grapes will replace yours. 
The Irish Potato offers another case to the point. But 
let us return. 
The Grape, although classsed by Botanists in Pentan- 
dria Monoginia, is nevertheless somewhat dioecous, but 
not entirely so. It offers one of those cases for which the 
Linneean system of classification has not provided. The 
Strawberry appears to be another. Some of the plants 
are entirely staminate or male and never produce fruit, 
while others are both staminate and pistillate, and are of 
course the only ones cultivated. Seedlings have a ten- 
dency to return to the natural state; nearly one half will 
be male vines ; they are usually the most vigorous ; 
among the others a large proportion will be no better than 
the wild type, and there will be but very few worth pre- 
serving. You may root up the first as soon as by their 
strong resemblance to the wild, you can recognize them. 
Of the others you may ascertain the quality in a compara- 
tively short time by grafting, which is done in March. 
Let us now review the several Southern varieties of 
Grapes, such as they are at present known to us. In or- 
der to do so, we must commence at the beginning; we 
must start at Nature’s starting point, and trace what she 
has done for us, for we have yet done nothing. 
In this and other Southern States, as far as I have been 
able to ascertain, there are three distinct species of wild 
grapes, of which there exists varieties of each also in a 
wild state. These varieties have been mistaken by some 
for different species. But from their habits and other 
characteristics there can be no difficulty in referring them 
to their original stock. These species are the Bullace, the 
Fox and the Muscadine. 
