iog 
Cultivation of the Grape* 
pretty much the whole day in visiting the col¬ 
lege, admiring their exquisite Gothic archi¬ 
tecture and wandering by the classic Cam, and 
through the beautifully adorned parks and 
pleasure grounds for the Fellows and students, 
and thinking what famous people had trod 
there before us. But it is not the province of 
these sketches to dwell upon such themes, and 
we pass them over in silence. This is the 
neighbourhood of a large dairy district, and we 
obtained some valuable information upon the 
making of butter and cheese, which we shall 
communicate hereafter. a. 
Cultivation of the Grape. 
It is as simple and easy to cultivate the Grape, and 
manufacture Wine from it, as to set out an orchard 
and make cider from the apples. 
The best soil for the vine is a light dry loam, with 
a slight intermixture of clay and calcareous matter, 
moderately rich, the ground inclining a little to the 
South. This should be plowed in the fall of the year, 
at least one foot deep, and trench plowing would be 
better, making one plow follow directly after another 
in the same furrow, turning up the ground if possible 
15 or 18 inches deep. The utility of this is, to give a 
light deep surface for the roots to strike into the earth, 
arid thus draw the more nourishment from it, and be 
sufficiently low and out of the way of being cut off, 
when the plftw is run between the rows for after cul¬ 
tivation. 
Planting and Culture. Early in the Spring before 
vegetation commences, re-plow and harrow the land 
fine, strike off the rows 6 feet apart, then take cut¬ 
tings or roots as they can be best obtained, and plant 
them three feet from,each other in the rows. As the 
vines grow they will require staking and tying up 
with the stalks of long tough grass, or green flexible 
straw. The after cultivation is precisely like that of 
Corn or any root crop, it being necessary merely to 
plow out between the rows occasionally, and keep the 
weeds down by hoeing the ground about the vines, 
where it may be slightly elevated from the centre of 
the rows, in order to keep them from standing water. 
Two vines only are left from each main stem of a 
different year’s growth, the rationale of which may be 
thus simply defined. The branch that grew for in¬ 
stance in the season of ’40, bears in ’41, and the spring 
of ’42 it is pruned off, and that season another grows 
in its place, prepared to bear in ’43, while that which 
grew in ’41, bears in ’42, and is cut off in ’43, and the 
one growing in ’42, when the last gave fruit, will bear 
in-’43. 
A well cultivated field of grapes, in a reasonable fa¬ 
vorable season, will yield 100 bushels to the acre. In 
this city they are worth 5 to 10 cts pr. lb., in Cincinnati, 
the vicinity of which is quite a grape region, they 
readily sold the last season at 84 per bushel for the 
table. One hundred bushels will produce 300 to 400 
gallons wine, which is worth at least 81 per gallon, 
so that it will be seen, that the cultivation of the 
Grape and making wine is quite a profitable busi¬ 
ness. 
To make Wine. Gather the grapes when fully ripe, 
put them into a common wash-tub, take a wooden 
pounder, precisely like that used by women when 
washing to pound out the clothes, and with light 
blows thoroughly mash the grapes. Then take them 
to a screw press made like those used for pressing 
cider, but instead of laying up the pulp of the grapes 
in. straw, like apple pomace, take pieces of joist 3 
inches square, and cut out mortices in each end, 
and lock them together as high as the pulp is to be 
laid up, say about 3 feet. These make a firm square 
box, that will endure a very strong pressure from the 
screw, which is quite necessary to squeeze out all the 
wine. Many put a double purchase on the lever of 
the screw, 4o better effect this purpose. When the 
the bruised grapes are laid up, fit a plank top just 
large enough to lay inside the joist to bear 
down the pulp, place blocks on this, and then com¬ 
mence pressing. Let the wine run out into an open 
tub, and if it will bear an egg, that is, swim it on 
the same principle as the strength of lye is tried, com¬ 
mence filling the barrel, but if not strong enough, add 
from four to ten ounces of sugar per gallon till it will 
bear the egg. 
After being placed in barrels, if the weather be 
warm, the wine will commence fermenting in a few 
hours, if cool, in a few days; and if cold, not short of 
a week or fortnight ; in fact, it is subject to pretty 
much the same natural rule that cider is, and perhaps 
the better way of producing fermentation, is to place 
the casks as soon as filled in a cellar, of a tempera¬ 
ture of about 50° of Fahrenheit, and thus keep it till 
fermented and ready to be bottled. If not removed 
to a cellar previous to fermentation, it should be done 
as soon as this process is gone through with, and in 
the following February or March, let it be racked off 
by tapping the barrel within three inches or so of the 
bottom, and placing the wine thus drawn from it in 
another barrel. This should be repeated every year 
as long as the wine stands in casks, as it tends to pu¬ 
rify and improve its quality. If the wine be not clear 
when the process is attempted, beat up the whites of 
from three to six eggs for each barrel, and pour in 
and mix up well, and it will soon settle and rack off 
clear. To still further improve the quality, add loaf 
or brown sugar in small quantities to the wine. 
Kinds of Grapes. The Cape, or properly, the 
Schuylkill Muscadel, and the Catawba, both natives 
of the United States, are considered the best varieties 
for America, that have yet been tried. The latter is 
the hardiest and best vielder, and makes a wine very 
much like the celebrated Rhenish, and we are not 
sure that it will not eventually prove as good and, 
command as high a price, for it must be recollected, 
as yet it has not had sufficient age and care to thor¬ 
oughly test its qualities. The Muscadel makes a 
wine tasting something like a mixture of Madeira 
and Claret. If one pound of sugar be added to each 
gallon, and it has the advantage of standing 2 years in 
barrel, and 3 more in bottle, it can hardly be distin¬ 
guished from fair Madeira. We have tasted such at 
the house of Nicholas Longworth, Esq, of Cincinnati, 
that we should have taken for Madeira, had we not 
been told the contrary, and connoiseurs who pride 
themselves upon their taste and judgment in such 
matters, have frequently pronounced it the best of im¬ 
ported, when not informed where made. 
The Isabella, and many other varieties of grape are 
good for the table; but the wine from them either 
proves too light bodied to keep, or comes out sour, 
crabbed, and rough. We look upon the cultivation 
of the grape as in its infancy among us, and have no 
doubt, especially in the valley of the Ohio, where the 
climate and soil so admirably suit, of seeing it 
brought to great perfection in the space of a few 
years , and if we must have wine, let the millions that 
are expended abroad, be saved at home by the culti¬ 
vation of the vine among us. A certain amount of 
fermented wine is wanted in the arts, and also in 
some cases of disease, and maybe preserved sweet 
as in ancient days, to the use of which under this, 
form, none can make objection. 
