58 
GRAPE CULTURE AND WINE MAKING IN NORTH CAROLINA. 
they approach the neck and shoulders, and are here 
so long as to form a species of mane, which the 
animal erects when irritated. The head is short, 
the forehead broad and flat, the ears short, rounded 
at the tips and inclined towards the neck ; the jaws 
are armed with sharp crooked tusks, which curve 
slightly upwards, and are capable of inflicting fear¬ 
ful wounds : the eye full; neck thick and muscu¬ 
lar ; the shoulders high ; the loins broad - the tail 
stiff, and finished off with a tuft of bristles at the 
tip ) the haunch well turned, and the legs strong.” 
The wild boar is a very active and powerful ani¬ 
mal, and becomes fiercer as he grows older. Some 
travellers assert that he lives to be 30 years old, 
and not unfrequently attains the height of forty 
inches at the shoulder. 
The old English hog Youatt describes 41 as long 
in limb, narrow in the back, which is somewhat 
curved, low in the shoulders, and large in bone • in 
a word, uniting all those characteristics which are 
now deemed most objectionable, and totally devoid 
of any approach to symmetry. The form is un¬ 
couth, and the face long and almost hidden by the 
pendulous ears. They nevertheless have their good 
qualities, although aptitude to fatten does not rank 
among the number, for they consume a proportion¬ 
ately much larger quantity of food than they repay ; 
but the females produce large litters, and are far 
better nurses than those of the smaller breeds. 
They are, however, now 7 nearly extinct, disappear¬ 
ing before the present rage for diminishing the size 
of the hog and rendering his flesh more delicate : 
points which, however desirable to a certain extent, 
may easily be carried too far. Low 7 judiciously ob¬ 
serves : 4 While we should improve the larger 
breeds that are left us, by every means in our power, 
we ought to take care that we do not sacrifice them 
altogether. We should remember that an ample 
supply of pork is of immense importance to the 
support of the inhabitants of this country. Eng¬ 
land may one day have cause to regret that this 
over-refinement has been practised, and future im¬ 
provers vainly exert themselves to recover those 
fine old races which the present breeders seem aim¬ 
ing to effaced ” 
From a mixture of these materials, namely, the 
fine compact, round Chinese, with the strong rag¬ 
ed, wild boar, and the great, coarse, long, deep, 
at-sided old English hog, it will be seen at a glance 
how numerous the breeds could soon be made ; and 
when we take into consideration the modifications 
which arise from the different treatment of swine 
throughout Asia, Europe, and America, and the dif¬ 
ference in climate, we shall cease to wonder at the 
innumerable varieties which now pervade the world. 
No animal can be more rapidly changed in its gene¬ 
ral characteristics than the hog; and nothing im¬ 
proves faster with care and good keep, or more 
quickly degenerates from neglect and poor feed. If 
wild hogs are wanted, they can soon be obtained by 
letting them run unattended a few years in the 
woods; but if a choice domestic breed is sought 
after, it can only be had by judicious crosses, 
good feed, and keeping them in pens, or within the 
bounds of moderate sized fields. 
Frost Bites should be rubbed with cold flannel 
or fine snow, avoiding the fire, or even a hot room. 
GRAPE CULTURE AND WINE MAKING IN 
NORTH CAROLINA. 
Jn a late number of De Bow’s Commercial Re¬ 
view, there is a long paper on grape culture and 
wine making in the south, by Dr. Sidney Weller, 
of Brinkleyville, Halifax County, N. C. It appears 
from his statement, that, during his last vintage, he 
made 40 barrels of wine, which readily commands 
from $1 to $4 per gallon. His wanes of inferior 
quality are made by adding, as a preserving ingre¬ 
dient, one fourth part, by measure, of good brandy; 
and those of the finest flavor receive three pounds 
of best double-refined sugar per gallon. 44 Spirits,” 
he-says, 44 add their own bulk to the volume of the 
liquor; sugar adds very little to the volume ;. hence, 
mainly, the difference in price.” 
The variety of grape, which Dr. Weller consid¬ 
ers best adapted for the south, is the White 
Skuppernong, said to have been first found on 
Skuppernong Island, in the river Roanoke. When 
properly managed, it' does well everywhere south 
of latitude 37° north, ■ and the grapes attain 
a very large size. 44 1 have frequently measured 
selected ones,” observes Dr. Weller, 44 and found 
them to be three and a half inches in circumference ; 
two I have found four inches round. They are 
ripening here about two months ; and that period 
ensures successive gatherings ; and the most delicious 
of grape fruit.” The kinds next in esteem to the 
Skuppernong, are Weller’s Halifax Seedling. Nor¬ 
ton’s Virginia Seedling, Le Noir, North Carolina 
(Bland’s Virginia ?), Hunterville, Franklin, and 
some other varieties, which are not inclined to rot. 
Dr. Weller thinks it decidedly best for the 
American vine grower to start his vineyard with 
well-rooted vines, reared in a nursery or elsewhere 
from cuttings or layers. 44 Even in grafting,” he 
says, 44 it is better to begin in the nursery and 
transfer into the vineyard after a year’s growth.” 
This is a common method with him, although a 
considerable portion of his vineyards has been ob¬ 
tained by searching the woods late in the spring, 
when the vine is in leaf, and getting stocks and 
roots of the fox grape, or other wild varieties in 
the vicinity, an inch or more in diameter, grafting 
them with scions kept back from sprouting in a 
cool place, of Weller’s Halifax and Norton’s Vir¬ 
ginia seedling, and then planting them in his vine¬ 
yard 10 feet apart each way. He says it is thei 
uniform result of long experience, that, if grafting 
be effected on stocks thus procured or dug up from 
the woods, with due pains taken, success will 
surely follow, if done at anytime from the complete 
fall of the leaves in autumn until late in spring, or 
even in summer, when the scion can be kept back 
from sprouting. But if the graft be on a stock, not dug 
up, nor stand w T here it is to remain, tbe grafting 
must be performed in early winter or in the fall. 
In grafting the vines, all that is to be done, is, to 
saw off the stock within a few inches of the ground, 
and insert a scion, containing two or three buds, 
wedge-fashion, or otherwise, as in grafting fruit 
trees : and then, without any clay or grafting wax, 
to draw earth around the stock, a few inches high, 
leaving one or tw r o buds exposed to the sun. But 
to avoid disappointment, the vine dresser should be 
aware that more trouble and attention is required in 
pulling off sprouts from the old stock, as they spring 
