I 
THE CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 547 
however, it lias been taken up, and is now likely to supersede 
the Isabella for the table, and compete well with the Catawba 
at the wine cask. My brother, Rev. I. N. Shepherd, of Mar- 
rion, Ohio, writes me, lately, that of some twenty varieties he 
has tested, he thinks it the finest variety for the table that he 
has met wit, and so good does he esteem it, that he contem¬ 
plates setting some ten acres with it next spring. Its latitude, 
41° north, and natural habit of soil, in many respects resemble 
Northern Illinois, perhaps a little more sad and clayey. The 
sample I produced was sweet and delicious, but small in com¬ 
parison with the Isabella. 
The mildew on the grape or vine, I have never seen but once 
in Ill. It was then on a vine of the Fox Grape, growing in a 
low, murky place near an old dung heap, and surrounded with 
a dense growth of weeds, as high as the highest branch of the 
vine. I thought the result a very natural consequence of the 
condition. 
The rot, such as is common in the Ohio valley, the interior 
and southern portions of this State, Missouri, and southern 
Iowa, has never shown itself in my neighborhood, but once; 
and then, only lightly, in comparison with its effects as felt 
further south. There are evidently certain periods in the growth 
of the fruit and vine, modified largely, I think, by the soil, cul¬ 
ture and training it is receiving, that makes it more or less sus¬ 
ceptible of the evil influence of that atmospheric condition in 
which the rot abounds. 
A damp, foggy morning, followed by a close warm day, oc¬ 
curring in the Ohio valley, any time in the months of June or 
July, will show a visible effect, and at some of the most criti¬ 
cal periods, three such days occurring together, would cut off 
the whole crop. So susceptible is the Isabella to the rot, that 
its cultivation in the neighborhood of Cincinnati, has been en¬ 
tirely abandoned. All the varieties they cultivate in the open 
air suffer badly, and in some seasons, fail entirely. 
With us the Isabella maybe considered safe, three years out 
of four, provided the situation is high and dry, the cultivation 
