iS6 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
is occupied by the currant family. It is really a valuable 
tVuit, and, being extremely sweet, enters into the manu- 
facture of preserves, jams and jellies, and with the usual 
preparation, is a fine desert fruit. It is easily propagated 
by suckers, and would be a valuable Eiddition to the smaller 
fruits of every garden. 
GRAPE CULTURE IN TENNESSEE. 
We take pleasure in re publishing the following letter 
from a late number of the Nashville Banner : 
. Wartrace, Tenn., May 17th, 1856. 
Dear Sir — Sometime since you requested me, at my 
leisure, to give some account of my progress so far, in the 
business of vine growing, and the prospect of success. 
I have for some years entertained the opinion that the 
general diffusion of the vine culture through those por- 
tions of the United States, which are suitable for the pur- 
pose, would be attended with the highest moral results. 
Further information on this subject, drawn from the ob- 
servation of travellers and the history of the Wine produc- 
ing races, have made this a settled conviction. Whatever 
other vices may have degraded the French, Spanish and 
Italian people, there is certainly not a drunken nation be- 
tween the Persian Gulf and the English Channel — where 
pure wine is the daily beverage of the laboring man — sus- 
taining him in his toil, and giving a zest to his frugal fare, 
he rarely betakes himself to more pernicious stimulants. 
It is difficult at first blush to make the more ardent 
friends of Temperance believe this. Their reformation, 
commendable as it is, has been attempted per saltu — has 
gone too far — must, I think, as the public mind becomes 
calmer, settle back to the true and practical, and be con- 
tent to advance by more even steps — content if in a 
generation or two, our rural population— retaining their 
peculiar loftiness of character in other respects-- unite 
with it the health and temperance of those who produce 
the world-renowned vines ofPIungary, theRhine, France, 
Spain, Portugal and the Madeiras. 
Only here and there, however, if at all, will any one of 
us embark in this business, solel)'' for a high moral object. 
We are right glad to be bid God speed, but we must also 
see some profit in the future, or few of us can afford to 
play at wine growing. A few reliable statistics will show 
what is to be hoped in this quarter. When on a visit to 
the vineyard ofMr. R. Buchanan, in the summer ofl854, 
(to which gentleman, by the way, I am indebted for as- 
sistance and friendly counsel, both personally and through 
his treatise) I was told that the average produce of his 
vineyard per acre for the 7 years previous had been 400 
gallons. This period included one extraordinary crop of 
over 800 gallons per acre, and also one very short crop 
of about 150 gallons per acre, but on the whole is a re- 
liable average upon which calculations may be based. 
The wine varies in price from $1 50 to 75 or 80 cents., 
according to quality — sold in the casks, and without far- 
ther preparation than having undergone fermentation in a 
cool cellar. When drawn off and bottled it will bring as 
much as $3 per gallon. 
Taking the fair average of wine in the cask, at — and 
making a liberal estimate of the annual expense of culti- 
vation at S75, and we liave a clear profit per annum of 
$325 per each acre. Suppose this to be an over-estimate 
(although taken from the actual experience of a man care- 
ful in accounts) and the profits are only $200 per acre, 
what branch of industry is more remunerative I As 
population thickens, and lands become subdivided, it will 
then be an imperative necessity to seek out some means of 
making an acre produce what now requires 20 — but even 
ju our present condition we can hardly conceive what an 
immense additions to our industrial resources, the general 
introduction of this business might become. 
Always provided it will succeed in our climate. The 
very experiment I am now trying and which has been 
tried by others with more or less success. Enough has 
been accomplished heretofore to inspire the uiost sanguine 
{ hope of the success of our native vines. Foreign grapes 
j will not do at all- m any part ofilie United States that I ever 
j heard of. The experiment has been tried again and again 
with uniform disappointment. Mr. Longworih, of Cin- 
cinnati, endeavored for ^^^ears to introduce and acclimate 
the best wine grapes of Europe: spent large sums of 
money in their importation, much patience in their culture 
and finally despaired Our old citizen, Dr. Robertson, 
also made an effort a long time ago to establishh a vine- 
yard of foreign grapes— and. after considerable expense, 
abandoned the thing as hopeless. AVe must leave Europe 
her grapes. It is some consolation to hope that we have 
better of our own. 
As yet the Catawba stands pre-eminent amongst our 
natives for wine. What other native grape may be here- 
after discovered, the Catawba is now the main reliance in 
all the vineyards. Mr. Vaulx has cultivated a small vine- 
yard of Catawba grapes near Nashville with very cheer- 
ing success. His grapes have, I believe, escaped very 
tollerably the great curse of our climate, the rot, and he 
has made some wine pronounced by connoisseurs to be of 
the best quality. By an unfortunate accident he was pre- 
vented from fully testing its keeping qualities in our cli- 
mate without the addition of sugar or alcohol, but there 
is every reason to believe that it may be so kept, as it is 
in Ohio. The only reason to fear the contrary arises from 
the difference of climate not only in some degree altering 
the saccharine qualities of the same grape, but bringing 
the vintage on in the very hottest of the summer The 
latter may be obviated by deep cellars — the former still 
leaves a shade of suspicion scarcely enough to^raise an 
apprehension. 
I hope you will excuse my tedious preliminaries, I am 
anxious to infuse into others a sense of the importance of 
this subject morally and economically considered— and 
inspire those who desire to embark in it, with well found- 
ed hopes of ultimate success, I now proceed to give you 
a short account of my progress so far. 
In the spring of 1854,1 pi*epared a small piece of ground 
about half an acre, by plowing as deep as possible with a 
turning plow, and following in the farrow with a sharp 
bull-tongue. This I set out with Catawba grape roots 
procured from Cincinnati, placing them in rows 6 by 4 
feet apart. The succeeding summer, as every one will 
remember, was the time of the great drouth. The vine 
suffered from this less than any other species of vegetation, 
preserving their rich dark color, when everything else was 
parched and withered. In the early part of this tall, I em- 
ployed and brought oui from Cincinnati, through the 
agency, and upon the recommendation of Mr. Buchanan, 
a German vine-dresser, a man thoroughly and practically 
acquainted with every process of the business — brought 
up amongst the vineyards of the Rhine, and having had 
three years expei’ience with our native grapes in the vine- 
yards of Ohio. I gave up to him the management of my 
vineyard altogether, to carry on the vines I had planted, 
and to extend it as much as our force would permit. 
From the first, and thenceforth he has set his face “like 
a flint” against the use of the plow. I attributed this an- 
tipathy then, to his early habits and associations— coming 
from a country where spade culture is almost the only 
kind in use. I am sure now he is right, from reasons 
which I will mention hereafter. His first operation was 
to ditch between my vine rows to the depth of about two 
feet, and throw the soil back, for the purpose of loosening 
and draining the soil deeper than the plow had gone. 
Having finished that he, employed the balance of the 
winter in trenching ground fur new planting.s, lA hicli i-s 
accomplished in the following manner. 
