SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
97 
met with a Swiss who said he had been raised to the cul- 
ture of the grape, ar.d I employed him to attend to the vine- 
yard. He paid very strict attention to it for two yeais 
butbeame disheartened at the prospect and left. 
From the time the vines commenced bearing, you could 
see they were becoming unhealthy, and in a few years 
they had not strength to form any bearing wood . I made 
but very little wine ; it seemed to be more hke claiet than 
any other wine. . j 
In 1820, I think, I broke up the v^eyard and sold 
what vines were still living to Col. ^ 
transplanted them to his fama a few miles off. Hiey 
flourished again pretty well for a few years, JinaUy 
died out, and the Col. has abandoned • 
Francis Fink, a German, soon after my failuie, p an ed 
some five or six acres, three or four miles from INa.hville 
and continued to cultivate them for several year^, but 
finally despaired of succeeding, and sold out and removed 
to Ohio. His stock was foreign vines. I have known 
several others make uials on a small scale, say rroin a half 
to one or two acres, but invariably with like resul s. 
Some have lately commenced grapes that are said to be 
native, and as yet are in good spirits of succeeding •, but 
doubt whether the short lime which they have been at it, 
would justify a positive conclusion. All the vineyards 
which I have seen have been, I think, on too flat or level 
land. Hill sides, and those having gravel in their com- 
position, I should prefer. I have seen a few vines o. the 
Lono- Cape cultivated to furnish the table, which have 
succeeded admirably. They were planted in yards, and 
trained on the house or trellis to the full extent of their 
•Growth. This vine, treated in that v/ay, perhaps would 
Succeed in field culture, extended on trellis work. They 
are, I think, decidedly the best table grape yet cultivated 
amongst us, and is worth the exertion to obtain it. I think 
I have seen on a single vine more than five bushels of 
bunches of grapes. 
The grape is the only sure fruit crop we have. I have 
never known them to fail. They are sometimes affected 
by rot, the cause of which 1 do not believe is certainly 
known. It commonces in a minute spot as if it were the 
sting of some insect, and rapidly spreads over the berry. 
It appeared to me that it was apt to occur in very wet, or 
very dry seasons. Some persons attribute it to Nvet, some 
to drouth. 
I have thus, Sir, given you a short and hasty sketch of 
my experience of the grape culture, and wish it could have 
been fuller and more saiisfactory. 1 hope and believe that 
you will succeed better than we who have preceded you, 
and that the culture of the grape may become a profitable 
business in our country. The pleasure of our tables 
would be greatly increased, and the intemperate use of 
distilled spirits much curtailed thereby. 
Wishing you great success in your enterprise, T am 
dear sir, 
Your obedient servant, 
Feiux Robe-rtson. 
Several others have continued to experiment with foreign 
varieties from time to time, in this State and elsewhere, 
with uniform non-success. It is almost hopeless, yet in 
the infinite varieties of our soil and local influences, there 
may still be found places where it will succeed. Mr. 
Camus, a Frenchman, having a small vineyard on the 
Nashville road, about ten miles from Nashville, has three 
varieties of French grapes, or supposed to be, which are 
bearing abundantly, and as yet give no signs of decay. 
He has made a small quantity of wine from mixed grapes, 
but owing, no doubt, to imperfect appliances, it is of too 
acid a character to suit the general taste. His vines are 
beautifully luxuriant, and may turn out hereafter to be 
highly valuable. It will require some years yet to test 
their health and durability, after so many failures, but 
Mr. Camus himself is very confident of them under his 
mode of culture. 
In our native grapes now lie the deep hopes. The 
Isabella and Catawba stand yet at the head of the best for 
wdne, more especially the latter. It is a native of North 
Carolina, near about our own latitude, and from a coun- 
try very similar. It was first introduced to jjublic notice 
by Major Adlum, who considered he had rendered there- 
by a greater service to the country than if he had paid 
the National debt. Nine-tenths of the wines about Cin- 
cinnati are the product of this grape As yet it is pre- 
eminent, but not perfect. It is very liable to disease, and 
often disappoints the hopes of the vintner. We may have 
in our forests something better still, and all those grapes 
which are observed to be of remarkable excellence in a 
wild state, should be noticed by amateurs and cultivated. 
The Catawba should be adopted by all about com- 
mencing the business, and the others made subjects of ex- 
periment. The wine is pleasant, of a delicate .straw color, 
mild, and keeps without any foreign mixture. It needs 
neither sugar nor alcohol. Several excellent specimens 
have been made in our vicinity. Mr. Vaulx succeeded 
in making a small quantity from his vineyard near Nash- 
ville, equal to any I have ever seen. He did not test its 
keeping qualities, but there is no reason to believe it de- 
ficient in that respect. Others at different points have 
commenced in earnest, and there seems to be a growing 
confidence in the success of the business. The experi- 
ence of the writer so far, has been most encouraging. My 
vintage this year, although necessarily small, from vines 
only four years old, was at the rate of 400 gallons to the 
acre. The wine is of excellent quality, with the proper 
amount of saccharine strength to ensure its keeping. 
In order to embark in the vine culture, less preliminary 
knowledge is necessary than would be at first supposed. 
To commence aright is the main matter, and that is easily 
learned. As the vine grows year by year, ample time is 
given to any one to make themselves acquainted with the 
training, and other subsequent processes of wine making. 
A few plain directions to beginners will close this article, 
already too long perhaps for service. 
The ground should be well prepared in the fall or early 
winter, to receive the benefit of the freezes. Undoubtedly, 
the best means of preparing the ground is by trenching at 
least two feet in depih. By trenching is meant simply, 
what its etymology would import, cutting up and loosen- 
ing the VjJwle of the ground, into open ditches, like 
military defences. The entire surface of the earth is to be 
loosened up if possible^ and that is best performed in the 
following manner : 
Begin at one side of the ground to be jirepaifd, and lay 
off a land the whole length about three fe<'t wide. Dig 
and throw the dirt out carefully from the side of ,the pro- 
posed vineyard, until you have a clean ditch, at le.i.st 18 
to 20 inches deep, cind if two feet the better. Lay off then 
another land by the side of the first, and of the same 
width. Dig it out, throwing all the dirtinto the first ditch 
until your second one is completed to the same depth. 
Ditch No. 1 will then contain the soil taken from ditch 
No. 2 in an inverted form and will be slightly raised. Lay 
off another land in the same way, dig and tlirow the soil 
into ditch No. 2, and so on until you go over the whole 
ground. Your last ditch will of course be open, which 
you may leave so or fill as you please. The dirt from 
your beginning ditch can be scattered over the bed. That 
is trenching, and decidedly the most perfect mode of pre- 
paring either vineyard or garden. No one should be 
satisfied with any less effectual mode, if this be at all pos- 
sible. It seems slow, and is more expensive, but in the 
end it pays better. One hand beginning now will trench 
one acre before spring, which acre will be increased there- 
