CULTURE OF THE GRAPE AND MANUFACTURE OF WINE. 
239 
te'nsively. I cultivated it on the tops and sides of 
hills, with all exposures, and on bottoms. I have 
cultivated it for twenty-live years, and still have a 
few of them in three of my vineyards, and a few in 
my garden. It is the worst grape for ripening we 
have. Usually half the berries continue green, and 
they are also liable to rot. My German vine-dress¬ 
ers have extirpated it from their vineyards, or 
are now doing it. It is best manufactured into a 
sweet wine, by adding one and a half, or two 
pounds of white Havana sugar to the gallon. I in¬ 
cline to the opinion, that Mr. Resor has mistaken 
the Cape grape (Schuylkill Muscadel), for the Isa¬ 
bella. The Cape is generally free from rot, and 
bears and ripens well, and makes abetter wine than 
the Isabella. The Isabella succeeds better at the 
East, than it does with us. 
“ The day is not distant, when the Ohio River 
will rival the Rhine, in the quantity and quality of 
its wine. I give the Catawba the preference over 
all other grapes, for a general crop, for wine. 
Sugar was formerly added. The Germans have 
taught us better. Where the fruit is well ripened, 
sugar will injure it, where intended for long keep¬ 
ing; where the grapes do not ripen well, I should 
still add from 6 to 10 oz. of sugar to the gallon of 
must. It rivals the best Hock, and makes a supe¬ 
rior Champagne. The Missouri grape makes a 
line wine, resembling Madeira; but is less produc¬ 
tive than the Catawba. I have heretofore consi¬ 
dered this a French Pineau grape, as it is a delicate 
grower with us; but I sent some of the plants to 
my sister in New Jersey, where the soil is poor, 
stony, and stiff. It there grows as luxuriantly as 
the wild grape of the woods, and is perfectly 
hardy; and I now deem it a native. I obtained it 
of Messrs. Prince, of Long Island, twenty-five 
years since. The berry is small, the bunches of 
medium size, berries free from a hard pulp, and 
very sweet. The Herbemont is a fine table grape, 
and makes a fine wine; but is subject to rot. The 
Lenoir much resembles it, if not identical, which 
some consider it; I do not. The Ohio is a fine 
table grape, bunches much larger than either of the 
former; but experience does not enable me to re¬ 
commend it highly for wine. It has a peculiar 
flavor, and resembles a foreign variety I have heard 
highly lauded, but does not suit my taste. The 
Bland is a bad bearer; does not ripen well, nor 
make a good wine, but is a fine table grape. I do 
not believe it a native grape. Gen. Harrison in¬ 
formed me, that it was introduced into Virginia 
sixty years since, by a French gentleman of the 
name of Mazzei. The Elsanborough is a good 
table grape, and free from a hard pulp. Norton’s 
seedling is far inferior as a table grape, to the 
Herbemont, Ohio, Lenoir, Elsanborough, and Mis¬ 
souri, which it resembles in the size of its fruit. It 
has a pulp. I am trying it this season on a small 
scale, for wine. The grapes were very ripe, and 
the wine has much body, and is of a dark claret 
color, though pressed as soon as gathered. I do not 
admire the flavor of the wine. Writers tell us to 
the contrary, but grapes may be too ripe to make 
good wine; and I incline to the opinion that this 
was the case with my Norton’s seedling. The 
grapes were pressed as soon as gathered, yet the 
wine was nearly black ; a certain proof that a fer¬ 
mentation had taken place in the fruit, before 
gathered. It was increasing the saccharine prin¬ 
ciple, at the expense of the aroma and flavor. 
“ In the hope of inciting other Germans to go 
and do likewise, I will state the result at one of my 
vineyards this season. Sixteen years since, I 
bought an unusually broken piece of ground on 
Boldface Creek, four miles from the city. The soil 
is rich, but abounds in stone. I had a tenant on it 
four years, who was bound to plant a vineyard. At 
the end of four years nothing was done. I tried a 
second, and after three years, found no grapes. I 
then gave a contract to a German (Mr. Tuferber), 
who had a wife, daughter, and three stout boys. I 
gave him a hard bargain. I required him to trench 
and wall with stone, six acres for grapes, in three 
years, and nine acres in five years. He was also 
to plant out a peach orchard, and tend an apple 
orchard, I had on the place. The wine and pro¬ 
ceeds of the orchards were to be equally divided. X 
carefully avoided climbing the stony hill for three 
years, expecting the same result as formerly. 
When I visited the hill, at the end of three years, 1 
found the six acres handsomely trenched and wall¬ 
ed, and set with grapes. There are now nine acres 
in grapes. The tenant complained this year of the 
rot in his vineyard. I am in the habit of selling to 
the tenants, my share of the vintage, at a price that 
enables them to sell at a profit. I this season sold 
at 75 cts. per gallon, at the press, for the Catawba, 
62i cts. for the Cape, and 50 cts. for the small 
quantity of Isabella made. He has paid me $66 J 
for my share of the wine, and for his share and tlie 
profit on my part, has realized the sum of $1,392.50 
The Catawba he sold at $1.25 per gallon. 
“ The best crop for the extent of ground this 
season, was at the vineyard of Mr. Rents, about 
four miles from town. Two acres yielded 1,30Q 
gallons. This is as large a yield as I have known, 
taking two acres together. To select particular 
spots, I have raised at the rate of 1,470 gallons to 
the acre. The grapes at the vineyard of Mr. 
Rents would have ripened better, had one-third of 
the bunches been cut off early in the season. 
Where the crop is very abundant, it requires a 
very favorable season to ripen the fruit well. 
“ Six hundred and fifty gallons to the acre is a 
large yield, and the season must be favorable, or 
they will not ripen well. A large crop is often 
occasioned by leaving too much bearing wood. 
This should always be avoided; for even if the 
crop ripens thoroughly, too much of the sap is 
taken by the fruit, and too little left to produce good 
young wood for the next season’s crop. 
“ 1 have for thirty years experimented on the 
foreign grape, both for the table and for wine. In 
the acclimation of plants I do not believe; for the 
White Sweet Water does not succeed so well with 
me, as it did thirty years since. I obtained a large 
variety of French grape from Mr. Loubat, many 
years since. They were from the vicinity of Paris 
and Bordeaux. From Madeira, I obtained six 
thousand vines of their best wine grapes. Not one 
was found worthy of cultivation in this latitude, 
and were rooted from the vineyards. As a last ex¬ 
periment, I imported seven thousand vines from the 
mountains of Jura, in the vicinity of Salins, in 
France. At that point the vine region suddenly 
