376 
SOUTHERN cultivator 
GRAPE CULTURE AND WINE MAKING. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — On reading the ex- 
cellent Essay of my friend and neighbor, “A. C.,” in the 
October number, on the Culture of the Grape and Wine 
Making in this section, I doubted whether what is pecu- 
liar to myself in the culture and manufacture might not be 
understood fully without some farther elucidation of the 
system so pursued. The culture of the vine and its re- 
sults being deemed by many as difficult, and requiring 
peculiar tact, I think it may be useful to aid in dispersing 
the mists which hitherto rendered obscure this matter to 
the public gaze. 
It is not my intention to enter at large into the subject, 
but to confine my remarks to my own peculiarities as ad_ 
ditional information. 
In the first place, I prefer new sandy land, porous soil, 
and the clay remote from the surface — the pine logs to be 
hauled off the land and the pine tops and oaks to be burn- 
ed of a rainy day, so that the leaves on the surface may 
not be all consumed. The land is then to be laid off (with 
stakes) by the plow at eight feet apart, and if the land is 
somewhat level (which I prefer) it is to be crossed at right 
angles the other way, 4, 5, or 6 feet distance, with the 
plow. The field then being laid off say 8 by 4 feet in the 
row, the 8 feet rows are to be ridged up with a half shovel 
plow by a furrow on each side— where the 4 feet rows 
cross this ridge, the top soil, for 18 inches square, is to be 
drawn to one side with the hoe and a hole made 18 inches 
deep and square by digging out with a steel spade and 
hoe, the subsoil to be scattered broadcast afterwards. The 
field being thus prepared, fill up the holes with top soil 
around it and raise it some inches higher than the land. 
All now is ready for planting — if with cuttings (which in 
favorable seasons do as well as roots) insert three cuttings 
into each hole so filled, the top bud of each cutting being 
just above the ground. The buds on the surface ought to 
approach and the lower ends of the cuttings be remote, 
one from the other. The object is, that in case all the 
cuttings should grow you can remove two of them with- 
out disturbing the main plant. Your land is now planted, 
and you will then break it as deeply as may be both ways 
with a long bull tongue plow and strong mule. The field 
is thus prepared, planted and broken up G or 8 inches 
deep. I recommend one spring and one summer plowing 
with the half shovel plow— the first off and the second to 
the vines, keeping the bushes down with the hoe and 
around the vines clean — all grubs and oak roots to be al- 
lowed to lie on the land, as their gradual decay keeps the 
soil in good heart and retains mo'sture. 
Should your field be a hill side, one which has an east- 
ern or southern aspect should be preferred, and it can be 
laid off by stakes and with the plow only one way, that 
is: horizontally, to prevent the soil from being washed 
away by floods of rain. 
1 will not say anything of the after cultivation, prun- 
ing or feeding of the plants, but will describe some peculi- 
arities in the wine making as practiced with me. The 
grapes, when fully lipe and the dew has dried off in the 
morning, are gathered, housed and all defective and half 
ripe berries being removed, are mashed in a half barrel 
with an oak pestle, so as to break the skins but not the 
seeds. This broken mass and the juice are emptied into 
thfi vat, where they are allowed to ferment from half a day 
to d or 4 days. The stems and seeds will rise to the top 
and must be pressed down in the vat three times a day, 
otherwise the top part may become acid and injure the 
wine. I ought to have mentioned that the vat as well as 
the mash tub ought to be previously well cleansed, made 
water-tight and dried inside, before used and then a sul- 
phur match should have been burned in the mash tub and 
in the vat — the sulphur match is made as in Europe, i. e., 
by dipping strips of strong paper in melted sulphur so as 
to have a coat on both sides. The vat should, during the 
ignition, be covered with cloth, folded 3 or 4 times to ex- 
clude the air. The object of this is to destroy any acidity 
in the vat and barrels, and to consume as much of the oxy- 
gen gas as possible before the fermentation commences. 
The barrels are prepared in the same way, and as the 
must or fermenting juice drawn from the vat is poured 
into the barrel the sulphurous fumes ascend and pass off. 
This consumes the oxygen of the common air in the emp- 
ty barrels by combining with it during combustion. 
The must, or fermenting juice being drawn off, the mass 
of stems and seeds are to be removed to the press and all 
the juice which runs from the first moderate pressure is to 
be added to the must in the barrel so as to nearly fill it. 
The second pressure ought to be kept by itself as of in- 
ferior quality. 
This is the process pursued here, and is somewhat dif- 
ferent from that described in the valuable paper alluded to; 
otherwise describing the system common to Mr. Caradeuc 
and to me in our several vineyards. 
It may not be amiss to say something on deep arched 
cellars, since Mr. Longworth has expressed the opinion 
that wine could not be made at the South without deep 
arched cellars or large additions of alcohol to the must — 
with due respect, the fact is otherwise. The first wine 
made in this section, 9 or 11 years ago, was made in my 
barn. Vinegar was intended — wine was made and used 
as such. My wine house is a framed board house, hav- 
ing a cellar beneath ten feet deep. It has been used for 
several years. One part of the wine crop is in this house 
where the thermometer rises to 96, and the other part in 
the cellai-. The result is the same, and alcohol is not 
thought of. 
In this relation, I may add that Mr. Buchanan, in his 
valuable Treatise on the Culture of the Grape and Wine 
Making, Cincinnati edition, 1855, p. 30, speaks of sulphur 
fumigations as a malter of course 
It was my intention to suggest that porous sandy soil, 
remote from clay and new level land was to be preferred 
to clay soils and hill sides— the level land having the rays 
of the sun playing on its surface in regulated heat and 
light from early dawn to the close of day — that sulphur 
fumigations are useful, and that sound wines can be made 
at the South without being fortified with alcohol, and that 
the necessity for a deep arched cellar to keep out the heat 
at the South is^ a n^th, though it may be required at the 
North to secure regular fermentation without check from 
the external cold. 
James C. W. McDonnald, M. D. 
Woodtcoj'd, S. C., Oct., 1857. 
P. S. — For a description of kirids of Grape Vines so 
cultivated and the quality of the fruits, see the Southern 
Cultivator for Cctober, 1855, pp. 18 and 19. 
Rebecca Grape. — The editor of the Boston Cultivator,. 
thus speaks of this fine new native Grape: 
We have received from Mr. Brocksbank, of Hudson, N. 
y., a box of the Rebecca Grape. The bunches are very 
close and heavy, and the berries are perfectly ripened, 
showing the character of the variety fairly. These speci- 
mens confirm our previous impressions, that the Rebecca 
is decidedly the best grape growm in the open air that we 
ever tasted. We are sustained in this opinion by thor- 
ough connoisseurs. When we consider that this variety is 
perfectly hardy, and that it is sure to ripen in this latitude 
— being a week or ten days earlier than the Isabella — it 
must be admitted that it is a valuable acquisition. 
