114 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[April, 
Grape Notes from Missouri. 
In no State has grape culture been prosecuted 
with more earnestness, or given more satisfac¬ 
tory returns than in Missouri. The following ex¬ 
tracts from a letter to the American Agriculturist 
from Geo. Husmann, Esq., of Hermann, Mo., 
will be interesting to grape growers all over 
the country. Mr. Husmann is well known as 
an extensive vineyardist, and one whose judg¬ 
ment in regard to varieties stands high among 
pomologists. In the February Agriculturist the 
statement was made, upon what we considered 
good authority, that the Norton’s Virginia was 
only half hardy. Mr. H. says: “ The Norton’s 
Virginia is one of the hardiest of all the grapes 
I know. It is fully as hardy as the Concord and 
Hartford Prolific, and much more so than the 
Catawba and Isabella. Wherever it has been 
planted in the Western States, Ohio, Illinois, 
Kentucky, Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Cal¬ 
ifornia, it has proved hardy, healthy, produc¬ 
tive, aud successful in every way. I have been 
told, however, that it does not make a good 
wine in New-York, and from the taste of the 
fruit I tried when there last fall, I should not 
think it would make wine there, without the 
addition of sugar to the must. For the West, I 
think it the best wine grape, which has yet been 
fully tried. I do not pretend to speak for the 
East, as I think the whole question of the suc¬ 
cess of a certain grape, is one of locality. We 
can not presume to lay down a rule for our 
eastern brethern, nor they for us. 
The Concord also makes a very good wine 
here, under proper treatment. The grape should 
be allowed to get very ripe, then gathered, 
mashed, and pressed immediately, without fer¬ 
menting previously. Wine made from it under 
this treatment, was sold for $2 00 per gallon, in 
the same cellar where the' best Catawba (and 
we know how to make good Catawba here,) 
brought only $1 65. The Concord is, under 
proper treatment, immensely productive,healthy 
and hardy, aud can be safely said to yield 
double the quantity of the Catawba, one year 
with another; this would seem to indicate it 
as a wine grape for the West, as well as a mark¬ 
et and table fruit. This may seem to be strange 
to your eastern readers, who know the Concord 
only as it is there, but let me tell you, (and I 
can do so knowingly, having tasted it in both 
localities,) they do not know what the Concord 
is with us, aud how much it has improved on its 
travels westward. This may be said of nearly 
all the grapes I have tasted there, not except¬ 
ing even the Delaware, which is much sweeter 
here, although not as healthy as with you. The 
Herbemont is also very successful here as a wine 
grape, but little subject to disease, very produc¬ 
tive, and makes a very fine, light red wine. It 
is, however, too tender for some of our winters, 
and should be pruned in the fall, bent down, and 
covered with earth. This, however, is not such 
a very laborious task, if done in the proper man¬ 
ner, and can be done at an expense of say $5 to 
$10 per acre, which includes taking up in spring, 
a (rifling expense, which this truly noble grape 
will richly repay. 
The Cassady promises to be very valuable as 
a grape for purely white wine. It is a great 
bearer, healthy, and hardy. The wine will 
equal if not surpass the best made wines of the 
Rhine, in flavor, body, and quality. 
Cunningham. —This grape belongs to the same 
class as the Herbemont, and requires similar 
treatment. It is rather an uncertain bearer, but 
the wine it produces is of such superior excel¬ 
lence, that it will make up in price for the de¬ 
ficiency in quantity. It makes a true sweet wine, 
of great body, and peculiar flavor, which I 
think would sell readily at $4 to $5 per gallon. 
Taylor or Bullitt .—This little grape promises 
highly for white wine, and as it is healthy, vig¬ 
orous, hardy and productive, may one day rank 
high as one of the wine grapes of the West. 
The Clinton also promises highly as a wine 
grape here. It is healthy, hardy, productive, 
and I doubt not, will make a very fine red wine. 
It has not been tried here as much as it deserves. 
The Delaware makes a very superior wine, but 
the vine seems to be too feeble and unhealthy, 
to recommend it for general cultivation here. 
Where it succeeds, as it evidently does at the 
East, and around Cincinnati, it ought to be 
planted extensively, as the wine is truly hard to 
beat. These are the most prominent wine grapes 
we have now, which have been tested to some 
extent. Among those promising well for that 
purpose, I would name the Cyntliiana, Arkan¬ 
sas, Lenoir, Alvey, Louisiana, Rulander. 
Norton’s Virginia wine now sells readily at 
$3 per gallon, and the whole quantity grown 
here last season, is already disposed of. To pre¬ 
vent much useless inquiry, let me here remark 
that the whole salable stock of Norton’s Vir¬ 
ginia, Concord, Catawba, and Cassady vines in 
this neighborhood, is already sold, and no plants 
of these varieties can be had here this spring. 
The demand has been unusually large, and the 
whole stock amounting to about 500,000 vines, 
was sold during fall and winter. Herbemont, 
Cunningham, Taylor’s Bullitt, Delaware, and a 
number of other varieties, can yet be supplied. 
If any of your readers has a large supply of 
Concord vines to sell, they will be gladly bought 
in this neighborhood, if sold at reasonable rates. 
Your suggestion as to the mixing of the juice 
of several varieties is a good one, aud has been 
tried here with excellent success; mixing the 
juice of the Concord and Norton’s Virginia, and 
also Herbemont and Norton’s Virginia, gives 
wines Which are in my opinion, superior to 
that from any one of these varieties alone.” 
Cranberry Culture — How to Get Rid of 
Sedges, etc. 
With Solomon we agree in the sentiment that 
“ There is safety in multitude of counsellors ”— 
if they only be wise ones. A Maine subscriber 
to the American Agriculturist proposed the fol¬ 
lowing four questions, and turning; to our friend 
Hon. Wm. H. Starr, of Connecticut, we receiv¬ 
ed the reply which is given below: Questions — 
“ 1st. Can the sedges and moss be killed (roots 
and all) by flooding with water ? 2nd. How 
long, at what season, and to what depth must 
the water cover them to this And ? 3d. Will 
the vines now growing there survive such treat¬ 
ment ? 4th. Is there any other mode of get¬ 
ting rid “of the sedges, except by the laborious 
process of removing the turf? Eastwood has 
nothing on these points.—C.G.A., Augusta, Me.” 
Response .—“ The locality of exposure of the 
meadow your correspondent does not describe, 
simply remarking,^ ‘ It is on the shore of a 
pond.’ This is a favorable locality, if the wa¬ 
ter is not supplied from cold springs in the neigh-' 
borhood, which probably is not the case. The 
soil is ‘ peat,’ which, with a little modification, 
is very favorable. The common cranberry, 
(Vaccinium macrocarpon) is already growing. 
This, also, indicates favorably. The plot is cbnr 
• venient for winter flowing, another very favor¬ 
able feature. As to his first inquiry.—This can 
be done by flowing in fall, and keeping the plot 
covered with water from 12 to 18 inches deep, 
not less than one entire year, and possibly two. 
The roots of the sedge are very tenacious of 
life, and not easily killed by water, and the 
great difficulty would be, the cranberry plants 
now there would not survive this treatment. 
This, I think, briefly answers the 1st, 2d and 3d 
queries of your correspondent. I reply to his 
fourth interrogation, yes; if he can draw off the 
water from the pond, by ditching or otherwise. 
If he can so far drain the plot as to plow it 
early in the fall and turn under the moss and 
sedge pretty deeply, and leave the peaty soil to 
freeze (the more thoroughly the better) during 
the winter, the next June it will be in a per¬ 
fectly friable state for preparing and putting 
in a condition to plant the vines. Then, occa¬ 
sionally during the summer raise the water, if 
the season should prove dry; aud before the 
heavj r ‘black’ frosts occur, flood the vines a 
foot or eighteen inches deep, until the following 
spring; then drain the plot, and by the suc¬ 
ceeding fall the vines will be established. If he 
cannot drain the meadow sufficiently for plow¬ 
ing, the labor of removing the sod is not very 
formidable. If he were to remove the entire 
surface of the highest portions of it, and cover 
the lowest parts with beach or bank sand to 
the depth of three inches, and then set his 
plants, he would probably be successful; but 
draining and plowing is by far the more prefer¬ 
able method, if it be possible. 
A Word for Shrubs—Plant Them. 
It requires a large place to have stately trees, 
but the smallest yard can have shrubbery. By 
a judicious planting of shrubs in clumps, an im¬ 
pression of extent can be given to a place of 
moderate dimensions. The distinction between 
shrubs and trees is not definitely drawn, but the 
former term is usually applied to those woody 
plants which branch low down and do not 
show a distinct trunk. Some shrubs are grown 
for the beauty of their foliage only, while others 
are prized mainly for their flowers. In plant¬ 
ing shrubs we w r ould not neglect the time-hon¬ 
ored Lilac aud Snow-ball, for they are associ¬ 
ated with our earliest recollections, but in plant¬ 
ing these we would get the improved sorts of 
Lilac, and while we would get the tall Snow¬ 
ball for old acquaintance’ sake, we would re¬ 
member the Viburnum plicatum, which is just a 
snow-ball in miniature. If asked to name.three 
of the most satisfactory and readily obtainable 
shrubs, we should say: Weigela rosea, Forsythia 
viridissima, and Cydonia Japonica or Japan 
Quince. The Wigela is full of flowers in spring 
and is a beautiful, hardy shrub. The other two 
have the merit of flowering early, and their 
foliage is fine when the bloom is over. A long- 
list of desirable shrubs might be given, but the 
farmer who wishes to beautify his front yard 
and has not access to the nurseries, would be 
deterred by the list of names. As it is for 
those who have taste, but not the facilities or 
means for procuring the products of the nurse¬ 
ries, that this article is especially intended, we 
will name a few native shrubs, which are easily 
procured, and which will give satisfaction. The 
Higli-bush Cranberry, which is common in 
swamps, is very desirable and showy when in 
flower. The Spiraea opulifolia, popularly known 
as Nine-bark; the Meadow-sweet, which is 
Spiraea salicifolia, and the Hardback, which is 
still another of the same genus, and is Spiraea 
