30 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
were destroyed. The “rot” or mildew also injured some 
of the vineyards much. But a bad season with the grape, 
like other fl’uits must be expected to occur occasionally. 
Our experience thus far has proved that the grape is about 
as reliable a crop as the apple, and perhaps more so. 
A fair average crop for a series of years is found to be 
260 to 300 gallons to the acre, in well cultivated vineyards 
in the Ohio valley. The cost of producing this crop will 
not exceed S50 to S60 per acre, and less with proper 
economy. We plant the vines usually 3 by G feet apart 
in the rows, and an acre will contain 2,420 vines. Warm 
hill sides, or the tops of hills, are generally selected for 
vineyards. Any undulating land is preferable to level, 
as it affords better drainage. The grape wants porous 
soil, with good under-drainage. A tenacious, wet sub- 
soil, or blue clay, or hard pan, will cause mildew and rot 
after the fourth or fifth year, and should be avoided. 
This cultivation is largely on the increase all over the 
west and southwest, wherever the conditions are supposed 
to be favorable, and the consumption of the wine is fully 
equal to the production. 
Thirteen years ago, when the writer commenced plant- 
ing, the price of wine was lower than it is now. It was 
also inferior in quality to that made since, and but little 
known. Now the character of our native wines is well 
established, and those who have acquired a taste for them 
will use no others. Their cheapness and their purity 
have helped to introduce them into general use in some 
sections of the country, and the failure of the grape crops 
in Europe will add to the demand for them. Viewed in 
every aspect — moral and economical — our native wines 
may be considered a most valuable addition to the agricul- 
tural products of our country. 
It is now estimated that there is in vineyard culture 
over 4000 acres in the Ohio valley. About half this 
quantity is in the vicinity of Cincinnati, and probably 
three-fourths are now bearing. In the Missouri Valley 
there are 700 to 800 acres ; and in the Upper Mississippi 
Valley 500 to 600 acres, 
In Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia, 
several vineyards of the Catawba grape have lately been 
planted, with flattering prospects, thus far, of producing 
far better crops than those of the Ohio Valley. How they 
will hold out, has yet to be tested. The mildew and rot, 
our great enemies in vineyard culture, seldom trouble the 
first two or three crops, but I have little doubt that the 
uplands of North Carolina and Georgia will be found more 
favorable to the cultivation of the Catawba grape than any 
section of the United Statet. 
FRUIT €4ROWINGf IN THE SOUTH, 
Editors Southern Cultivator — In looking over the 
back numbers of your valuable paper I noticed two ar- 
ticles which I cannot refrain from answering, although as 
far back as the Tenth and Eleventh Volumes; butbelieving 
there is a large portion who keep the Cultivator as a 
reference upon subjects pertaining to Agriculture 
and Horticulture ; and knowing if any one follows after 
the precepts advocated in those articles they will experi- 
ence a fruitless disapointment. I also want it strictly 
understood that it is no self-interest which prompts me to 
write this article, neither do I wish to enter in a quarrel 
with any of the correspondents of a paper I so devotedly 
love, as I do the Southern Cultivator. 
The article in the Tenth volume is headed “Fruit Cul- 
ture,” and signed M. W, Philips, in which he says : “the 
impression has long gone abroad, that fruit trees worked 
at the North, will not do hei’e, neither will they bear or 
live long. A parcel of stuff about naturalizing or accli- 
matizing, or some other intangible matter. This is all flum- 
mery.” 
Let us look into this matter and see if this is “ all flum- 
mery” or not. I will first mention that I have devoted a 
large portion of this season to visiting orchards in this vi- 
cinity, making observations upon this subject, and as 
there has been vast quantities of Northern trees sold in 
this and the adjoining parishes within the last few years, 
it has afforded me opportunities for making many obser- 
vations, and in not one case have I yet found the North- 
ern tree one half so sure to bear as the Southern raised 
tree, when worked with a variety of peach of Southern 
origin. 
A few weeks ago I visited a peach orchard which cover- 
ed 100 acres of land, the proprietor having two years ago 
cleared 200 acres, which was also covered with peach 
trees. This orchard when at its heighth, consisted of 
5,500 trees, and covered 300 acres of land. I asked the 
gentleman who resided upon the place, why the trees were 
cut down. He informed me that there nad been only two 
crops gathered in ten years. I then asked him where he 
procured the varieties of peaehes. He said they were the 
choicest varieties the North could produce, worked upon 
Southern stocks. 
I travelled in every portion of the orchard, examined the 
trees, tasted the fruit, and in six among eight I found a 
worm, and a large portion far inferior to the same varie- 
ties when grov/n at the North. Many of the trees were dead, 
the remainder had a sickly appearance and were evidently 
following the same road, while in the same orchard a por- 
tion of trees which were worked with varieties of South- 
ern origin, looked thrifty and sound, and the gentleman 
informed me they would mature their fruit, when the 
Northern varieties would, when they did blossom, drop 
every one. 
Two miles from this“orchard is another which I visited; 
it covered five acres, the varieties all Southern origin. The 
land appears the same, and no better protected in any way, 
shape or manner. The proprietor informed me that the 
trees produce a good crop nearly every year. The trees 
were large, thrifty, sound and completely covered with 
fruit free from worms, beautiful in appearance, and equal 
in flavor to either of the Crawfords, the President, George 
the Fourth or Buckeye, (the three last were three among 
seven varieties, which took the premium at the Ohio State 
Fair in 1855, as being the best in cultivation.) 
About one mile from this last named orchard is another, 
which covered 25 acres of land, the varieties nearly all 
Northern, the buds having been cut from the trees of the 
first named orchard. The trees will not compare at all 
with those in the second named orchard, in size or sound- 
ness, and the proprietor informed me that they produced 
a crop once in five or six years. 
I also visited two more orchards situated one and two 
miles from the last mentioned one. The varieties all of 
Southern origin. One covei’ed seven and the other eight 
acres. The proprietor said the trees produced a crop 
every year, but some years more than others, that they 
always had peaches enough for their own use, marketed 
some, and fattened pigs enough on the peaches which 
dropped off the trees to pay for cultivating them. 
Let us see what Mr. Longworth, of Cincinnati, says 
about foreign varieties of grapes, for if the change of cli- 
mate affects grapes, I certainly do not see why it will not 
affect other varieties of fruit. He says: — “I have expend- 
ed $10,000 for foreign varieties of vines, have received 
them from nearly all the wine-producing districts of Eu- 
rope, and have not in one instance yet found a variety 
adapted to our soil and climate. I consider them utterly 
worthless.” 
If the difference between the soil and climate of Ohio 
compared with that of Europe, exercises such marked in- 
fluence upon fruit brought from Europe to Ohio, it seems 
very strange to me, if the difference between the North- 
ern and Southern climate does not exercise as much, if not 
