GRAPE CULTURE AND WINE MAKING IN NORTH CAROLINA. 
59 
forth to rob the scion, than in the first process of graft¬ 
ing itself ; and this is more frequently the case in 
grafting on stocks, standing in their original sites, 
than in those procured from the woods. To com¬ 
pensate for this, however, the growth from the for¬ 
mer is much greater than from the latter, being, in 
the first instance, not uncommonly 30 feet in a sea¬ 
son, and in the other only 8 or 10 feet. Grafts often 
bear fine clusters of grapes the first season of 
growth, and pretty considerably the second. A few 
years since, Dr. Weller says that he had the curi¬ 
osity to measure the second season’s product of a 
Halifax vine, which he had grafted on a tolerably 
large stock. It was half a bushel of fine grapes— 
equivalent to a gallon and a half of wine, if made 
with sugar, as the keeping ingredient, or two gal¬ 
lons if made with spirits. 
Another reason, assigned by Dr. W eller, why it 
is preferable that an American vineyard should be 
started at once with rooted vines, is the greater dis¬ 
tance they may stand apart. “ The very luxuriant, 
far-extended growth of grape vines in our forests 
and hedge rows,” says he, “ is the true model of 
nature , pointing out the unerring plan for an Ameri¬ 
can vine grower to pursue. So long as 1 disre¬ 
garded that model, I found the vineyard an uphill 
business. But the wished for success followed, 
after giving ample room, on every side for the vines 
to expand themselves — first unchecked in length 
upwards, and then sideways, on trellises and scaf¬ 
folding, so that, at length, underneath the canopies, 
nothing is to be seen from 6 to 8 feet from the 
f round, but main vine stems and supporting posts. 
'he common distance apart, I have planted Skup¬ 
pernong vines, is 20 feet, and other kinds 10 ; but 
I now consider 20 feet too near for the Skupper¬ 
nong, 30 or 40 feet being better, unless it is calcu¬ 
lated to remove every other one before they become 
too large. A Skuppernong fourteen years old, from 
planting, I measured to-day, and it covers an area 
whose diameter is 50 feet. Another, now in view 
from my office, runs 30 feet on scaffolding, and then 
ascends an aspen tree, spreading over its branches 
to the height of 40 feet: the aspen tree full of 
grapes, so to speak. About ten years since, I 
planted two vines of this kind in the garden of 
l neighbor—trained from the garden on some oak 
trees, in a grove. A barrel of wine was made from 
it, last vintage, besides an abundance of fruit for 
family use ; and I was assured, that, if all the 
grapes had been saved, another barrel would have 
been the result. A vine in the lower part of this 
state, near Skuppernong Island, in the Roanoke, 
produces its annual yield of five barrels of wine, I 
am most credibly informed. With myself, and 
others in this region of country, Skuppernong vines 
have produced at rates of 2,000 gallons per acre.” 
Another of nature’s models, Dr. Weller says, 
gave him a hint to let his vines have the same 
advantages, as to roots, as those of the trees of 
the woods, or old piny fields ; that is, to secure 
the falling leaves, in autumn, from blowing 
away, by scarifying the ground about the roots, in 
order annually to increase the fertility of the soil, 
instead of direct manuring. 
in reference to the preservative ingredient neces¬ 
sary for keeping good wine, Dr. Weller contends, 
that there is an error in the practice of American wine 
making, founded on the false idea that the juice of our 
grapes is as strong as it is in foreign countries ; and, 
consequently, needs no other requirement in safely 
keeping our wines. All good authorities on the 
subject, he asserts, concur in the idea, that, while 
American vineyards far exceed European in yield, 
they fall far short in the strength of the juice 5 and, 
therefore, corresponding keeping ingredients must 
be used, or no adequate success can be expected. 
He says that he, as others, has made wine with¬ 
out such ingredients, when the grapes were quite 
ripe, and shrivelled ; but this will not do as a busi¬ 
ness, since the quantity of juice is small, and the 
fruit may drop or spoil, by being left too long on 
the vine, which show that the plan is unprofitable 
even if it were practicable, without some preserva¬ 
tive ingredient as sugar, spirits, or both. He fur¬ 
ther states, that, some years since, he experimented 
in that way to the loss of half of his vintage. “ But 
with a steady eye,” he adds, “ to the physical fact 
of the comparative weakness of the American grape 
juice, and adding a plenty of sugar or brandy, or 
both, I have lost no wine for several years; and 
from reliable sources, I learn that most European 
wines, for safe keeping, have spirits added to them, 
more or less, as the Port wine, ere it crosses the 
ocean, one third 5 and I venture the suggestion, 
that, if more of the spirits made in this country, 
were added to the grape juice, or used as in wane 
making in foreign countries, instead of being drunk 
in its crude state, it would be much better for the 
temperance cause. ***** One thing is 
certain— all wine, properly so called, has alcoholic 
pow T er therein, generated by fermentation, if not 
otherwise acquired. Scripture wine was clearly 
alcoholic, from the fact of its excess producing in¬ 
toxication, and the Bible warns against drunkenness 
by its intemperate use.” 
In speaking of his own experience in winemak¬ 
ing, Dr. Weller states, that, in September, 1846, he 
made 33 gallons from five bushels of white Skup¬ 
pernong grapes, half green ones , two bushels of 
purple Skuppernong (Bland’s Virginia grape ?), 
and two and a half bushels of common bunch 
grapes of the woods, with the addition of 20 lbs. of 
Muscovado sugar and 8 gallons of good apple 
brandy. The grapes were mashed between two 
wooden rollers, the juice of which was allowed to 
ferment two hours. It was next strained through 
the folds of a woollen blanket,- as it run from the 
press, and then put up in a new cask, fumigated 
with a sulphur match, where it was allowed to 
stand, undisturbed, in a wine cellar, until the time 
it was racked off. This wine sold readily under the 
name of “ Weller’s Skuppernong Champagne,” at 
$2 per gallon. 
In another instance, seven and a half bushels of 
white Skuppernong and three and a half bushels of 
colored Skuppernong grapes were mashed at night, 
pressed and strained off, the next morning, which 
yielded 31 \ gallons of juice. The liquor was then 
put up into two separate casks, one containing 20 
gallons of juice, to which were added 50 lbs. of 
common brown sugar, increasing the volume of the 
liquid to 23 gallons; and the other containing 1 1 \ 
gallons of juice, with the addition of 34! lbs. of 
double-refined crushed sugar, which increased the 
liquor to 13 gallons. The former was sold under 
