VINTAGE OF OHIO-PLOWING RIDGES.-FRUITS IN MISSISSIPPI. 
343 
your inquiries were well calculated to shed light 
on the history, condition, improvement, and num¬ 
bers in such flocks—information of vast importance 
to the wool growers of our country. 
fVilliston,Vt., Sept. 23, 1845. L. G. Bingham. 
VINTAGE OF OHIO. 
I promised you an account of our vintage. It is 
over, and after all complaints of the rot, and drop¬ 
ping of fruit, and the lamentations of the hard-work¬ 
ing German women, who do most of the work in the 
vineyard in the summer season, my tenants have 
cause for gratitude, not complaint. The promise of 
the crop early in the season, was without a parallel. 
Their expectation was, 500 barrels of wine. They 
have made upwards of 300. The must was very 
rich, and the wine promises to be of fine quality. 
More is said of the quantity of wine raised in this 
country than is true. The balance of the State, I 
venture to assert, has not produced an equal quantity. 
But the cultivation of the vine is fast extending on 
the Ohio, and one or two years more, and 1 trust the 
same remark would not be true of this country. 
I am also extending my vineyards. As an excite¬ 
ment to poor Germans, I will give the result in a 
single vineyard, that of Tuferbers.—It is situated 
four miles from the city, on Boldface Creek. It is a 
rich, steep, stony hill. It resembles the hill of the 
Irishman; “ So steep, that before you get up on the 
one side, you are half way down on the other.” It 
was a hard bargain to the tenant. To trench, bench, 
and wall the south side hill, was worth $300 per 
acre. My first tenant on it was a Virginian. I will 
hereafter go to Virginia for high-minded gentlemen, 
but for hard workers I will stick to Germans, or go 
to the land of buckwheat, or the land of steady 
habits. The Virginian was on it three years. Never 
trenched a foot. All the cuttings he planted were 
killed by weeds. He had a son killed accidentally, 
yet so far from having a shroud, there was not even 
a shirt in the whole family to put on him. Yet their 
exterior appearance was decent, and their manners 
threw 7 my accomplishments into the shade. Perhaps 
my pride was wounded. From this, or some other 
cause, I changed them for a young German, and— 
for a wonder—I met with one too stupid to grow 
rich. After three years’ trial, I parted with him. I 
then took the present German tenant. He was very 
poor, but strong and healthy. His wife, a match 
for the wife of my other German tenant; who, 
when she died, told me, “ he might just as well have 
lost his horse.” He had also full grown boys and 
iris. I made a hard bargain with him. Bound 
im to trench and bench six acres of the worst 
ground in three years, and plant it in grapes, and put 
out fruit trees. I was to have half of the proceeds 
of all the wine and fruit Space was allotted to him 
to raise cabbage and potatoes for his family, and pas¬ 
ture. I was careful not to make an attempt to climb 
the hill for the three years, or go near it, fearful of 
disappointment. Judge my surprise at the end of 
three years, to find six acres handsomely trenched 
and benched, with their walls and vines in fruit. 
Peaches and apples were this season a total failure, 
and he had his grapes only to rely on. This is the 
only vineyard at which a few Isabella grapes remain 
To encourage him, and the other Yine-dressers, I let 
them have my share of the wine at a reduced price* 
For the Catawba, he was to pay 75 cents per gallon, 
for the Cape Vevay, or Schuylkill Muscadell, 62§ 
cents per gallon ; for the Isabella 50 cents per gallon. 
The whole of his enclosure does not exceed t'hirty- 
five acres—nine acres of it in grapes. He has sold 
his wine of this vintage, for cash, for $1,779,41. 
At the price my share was sold to him, it came to 
$713,75, and left him from the vintage, the nett 
sum of $1,065,66. I trust other poor Germans may 
be excited by his example. The thirty-five acres cost 
me $630. There were some vineyards in the neigh¬ 
borhood, more productive than any one of mine, as 
they suffered less from late frost and the rot. 
Cincinnati, Oct. 7, 1845. N. Longworth. 
PLOWING RIDGES. 
I perceive by your October number, one of your 
correspondents is desirous of knowing how to form 
a ridge on a round curvature for meadow land, as 
described by Judge Buel. Commence in the old fur¬ 
row. The first furrow must be very shallow and 
small, the back furrow a little deeper, and so close as 
to cover the first furrow ; the first furrow on each 
side make narrow and shallow, because these four 
furrows require to be placed as low as possible. 
The third and fourth furrows on each side, plow as 
deep, and wide, and high, as possible, because those 
four furrows are situated where the ditch, or the dif¬ 
ficulty is, which prevents the water coming to the 
furrow; then plow the remainder of the furrows up 
in proportion. The last two furrows require to be 
very narrow; the last but one plow shallow in order 
to have an earth furrow after the sod is plowed. 
This earth furrow is very necessary to cover the seed. 
Ridges may be plowed from three to five yards in 
width. The principal part of the harrowing should 
be d6ne parallel with the plowing, in order not to fill 
the furrows. Then take a double mould-board, or a 
single mould-board plow, and go once or twice in the 
furrow, then let a boy take a hoe or shovel, and 
scatter the earth from the furrow, so that the water 
may come freely to the furrow. J. B. 
FRUITS IN MISSISSIPPI. 
The improvements in agriculture in this vicinity 
are truly gratifying Mr. F. Washington settled 
near me last February year, in the woods, with limited 
means, and a small force; had his houses to build, 
land to clear, &c. And this year he had plenty, of 
grapes from cuttings the previous year; figs from 
cuttings, and peaches from small trees, set out at the 
same time for his family consumption. He sold $300 
worth of water-melons alone, many of them weigh¬ 
ing over 50 lbs., and a few as much as 60 lbs. each. 
He has paid great attention to manuring with muck 
and lime, coal and ashes from a steam-mill near here, 
and from hog pens, &c., &c. ; indeed, as every good 
farmer should, he makes manure from, and of, every¬ 
thing, and is reaping a rich reward. He has now 
2,500 peach trees, mostly 6 feet high, from the seed, 
the past spring, all budded with choice varieties. It 
is, indeed, the prettiest nursery of its age, 1 ever saw. 
He now has turnips 3 inches in diameter, and the 
finest prospect 1 ever saw—will grow 1,000 bushels. 
Our own grape crop again proved fine and abun¬ 
dant. The rice and potato crops both were injured 
