N. B. The foregoing estimate, as to number of vines, stakes, posts and poles, is, fractionally, not correct, but will be found substantially right. One hundred, as a basis, is more convenient for calculation; and entire exactness could not be had without troublesome fractions. As to skinned or barked round timbers, instead of split, that mode of fixture, for canopies, is adopted by me as least expensive, more durable, and the best every way. The greater part of my vineyards, as to scaffolding and canopies, have split posts every ten feet each way, and split scantling and rails thereon, eleven and twelve feet long, or longer than ten feet, in order to lap each way. VINEYARDS AT THE SOUTH.-MANUFACTURE OF WINES.-For upwards of twenty years, the writer has experimented in the vineyard business, and in making the best American wines, or wines accounted by the best judges, and by his patrons in various parts of the Union, better than European. its are known, as for Madeira and Port. For Let the candid, with these suggestions before them, judge impartially for themselves, and not be imposed on by the absurd position of interested salesmen and others, as to foreign wines, in order to ruin or greatly injure the vineyard business, in the South at least of our country. His vineyard of ten acres, and vineyard products (fifty and sixty barrels annually), are the largest now in the South, and are rapidly on the increase. His wines, according to quality, and cost, and trouble of making, command in market from one to six dollars per gallon, with twenty per cent. off by the cask; and at the same rate per bottle also, after adding cost of bottles, sealing, wiring and labeling. Here the writer appends what he deems the most important hints to all American vintners; and states that, with the exception of a few gallons of wine occasionally made with shriveled or over-mature grapes, by way of experiment, and no ingredient whatever added to the juice (experiment convinces him that in the South, at least, it is utterly impracticable thus to make wine as a profitable or desirable business), he makes some of his best kinds of wines, as Madeira, Port, &c., by adding plenty of spirits, or sugar, or both, according to the wines intended as the result. For instance, as a third of spirits is put into the juice for making For it is a fact, and tested as such by long the best Eastern wines (medicinally and oth- experience of others, as well as the writer, erwise), ere reaching our shores, so for some that the Scuppernong grape, which outyields of his, is added a like quantity of spirits, as any grape in the world, as to fruit and juic advised by Mr. Longworth, our greatest (as one vine covering a quarter acre yields Western vintner, in his Patent-Office letter five barrels of wine annually), is so deficient of 1847. True it is, according to recent state- in quantity (I say quantity, for the quality is ments, that some wines are made in the most excellent), of saccharine and alcoholic western vineyards, under Mr. Longworth's principles, that without artificial help, by auspices, without any safe-keeping, enrich- some ingredients, the wine will not keep, or ing ingredients whatever added to the juice be of any superior quality ere spoiling; and of the grape. But it is also true, by accom- there is no help for this difficulty, to any panying accounts, that such wines, like those practical purpose, by suffering the grapes to made thus in France and other eastern vine- become extra ripe, or shriveled on the vines: yards, are of a lower price, indicating, so far for whenever ripe, most of the berries fall off as that is concerned, an inferior quality, or, by the first wind or storm of any violence; as we have reason to believe, more body and and so deficient is the juice of the quantity, zest by said artificial ingredients being added, of necessary wine ingredients, at the common a higher price is commanded, when the mer-ripeness of the grapes, that the juice is com paratively insipid, as tried by hundreds of good, had changed to become worse than the writer's guests tasting it, as running from before, in a few weeks. I concluded some the presses in vintage seasons. But by add-impure or deleterious ingredient of an evaing a sufficiency of double-refined loaf sugar, nescent effect had been used. I concluded, as an ingredient most congenial to its own also, I could beat the Frenchman by making exquisite taste in quality, it makes a most a permanent change through pure ingredidelightful beverage. And strange as the fact ents added; and into some wine then on may appear to some mere theorists, the very hand, I put sugar and spirits, as much as Scuppernong grapes of the same degree of needed to recover it, and the result was ripeness as those affording the comparatively even beyond expectation It has been alweak or deficient quantity and quality for leged (from a source, however, of no relibeverage or wine, are the most delightful ance) that grapes in the far South more fruit, and are preferred by a vast majority of abound in saccharine and alcoholic proper the writer's guests or visitors in vintage time, ties, and therefore the juice less needs artifito any of about two hundred other kinds in cial help to make wine. But even if that is his vineyard, including the Catawba, Isa- a fact, another fact is, that the further south bella, and other most favorite natives in our the warmer the weather is in vintage time, country, both North and South. saying nothing of the less chance of deep I am most credibly informed that a Span- cellars to help to prevent the wine running iard, of reputation as a European vintner, ex-into the acetous fermentation. In the North, perimented pretty largely on Scuppernong or Ohio, not only the Catawba will stick on Island (originating the name of this grape), the cluster till fully or extra ripe, but colder as to the qualities of the Scuppernong grape weather, and the advantage of deep cellars for wine, and that he pronounced it unfit or are enjoyed. But I opine, no matter how deficient in quantity and quality of juice to cold the climate, or how deep the cellars, make wine without artificial help; or rather, that the Scuppernong juice, if enjoying these I would say, in his ignorance and prejudice, advantages, would not keep without artificial he condemned the grape for wine-making. help. He as inconsistently pronounced such condemnation, as if he had for like reasons condemued the grapes of the Madeira Island, or those of Oporto, because one-third of spirits was necessary to develop those grapes into their most excellent wine qualities. As to spirits for the safe keeping and duly enriching ingredients to Scuppernong juice, from ample experience and most reliable information, I consider a fourth the least safe quantity, or one gallon to three of juice; and as to sugar, two pounds per gallon of juice, though a third of spirits and three pounds of sugar is safer and better every way. Some years since, traveling through Franklin county, North Carolina, I called at a celebrated Scuppernong vineyard, and found by tasting and information, that of about seventeen barrels of Scuppernong wine made the past vintage, every one of them had a taste slightly acid. And on inquiring, I fouud that, owing to a deficiency of brandy on hand, one-fifth only had been added in making the wine. True, in such cases the wine may be recovered by adding more brandy, or some sugar, or both. But it is also true that the wine is not quite as good in such cases, as if the requisite or safe quantity had been added at first. Herbemont's Madeira grapes, in Columbia, South Carolina, hang on the vines, if escaping the rot, as long as desired after being ripe; but with one pound of sugar per gallon, more than half the wine is apt to spoil by souring (or, as I aver, by deficiency of safe-keeping ingredients), as set forth from Mr. Guinard. in Mr. Longworth's Patent-Office letter of 1847. Now, I fearlessly assert, that from my experience with this very grape in winemaking, three pounds of sugar, instead of one, put into its juice, or one-third spirits, and the same pains being taken as by Mr. Guinard, would make a very good, and far better wine than that made with the use of the meagre one pound of sugar per gallon. And when it is remembered that the spirit adds its own bulk, and the sugar half thereof, to the quantity or volume of the wine, the argument is greatly enforced against stinginess of safekeeping enriching ingredients in making Scuppernong wine. And I may say the same of the making of American wine from any kind of grape. Wishing to gain the best intelligence in our country on wine-making, besides reading the treatises extant thereon, I have received, by solicitation and otherwise, numerous receipts from the lower part of our state, for making Some ten years since, I was written to the best Scuppernong wine. And it is refrom Columbia, South Carolina, by a French-markable, that not one correspondent from man, that if I had any partly spoiled or acid wine, he would come and change it to good for a proper compensation. I declined the proffer, having no confidence in the foreigner. Months after, I learned from a most respectable gentleman from the place, that the bad wine the Frenchman made apparently the region and origin of this most famous American grape, gives any process for making this wine without either sugar or spirits added, though most of them differ as to the quantity necessary, of either, or both, to make and safely keep the wine. But as to the most exquisite taste of the Scuppernong wine, double-refined sugar, doubtless, is best | Mr. Cannon bought in most of his grapes, or to secure that, because coming nearest to the about one hundred bushels, ere I left, and most delightful taste of the Scuppernong expected one hundred more, engaged to comgrape. plete his vintage. The highest praise of any wine is, that its zest is like that of the grapes of which it is made. A most eminent vinter from Germany first suggested the double-refined sugar for making the most excellent Scuppernong wine. And as soon as I tried it, I found he was right, or chemically correct. I must here relate a fact, at the danger of appearing vain to some, viz.: I was written to, from the lower part of our state, to come down (about eighty miles), and instruct how to make the highly reputed, best Scupper nong wines, and was offered $4 a day from starting to returning. And I here append the result of my mission, as follows, viz.: The mashing machine, woolen blankets to strain with, and sugars and spirits being all ready, as directed by letter, I made, as samples, a barrel of each of the following kinds of Scuppernong wine, or cordial, viz.: 1. Scuppernong (proper, or no appellative name), at $1 per gallon, made with one-third brandy. 2. Scuppernong champagne, at $2 per gallon, made with one-fourth brandy, and one pound of double-refined sugar per gallon. or 3. Scuppernong Madeira, (a white colorless wine,) at $3 per gallon, made with three pounds per gallon of double-refined A number of small Scuppernong vineyards are scattered through different regions of the lower part of North Carolina. The owners sell a part of their grapes, and a part they convert into wine. Cartloads of grapes, I learn, were carried from Mr. Cannon's neighborhood to Norfolk, (60 miles distant,) and some, bought there, were shipped to Baltimore, and elsewhere. So great is the quantity sold at Norfolk, from the adjoining country, that often there are 30 cartloads a day there, I was told, in vintage time. So much appreciated is this grape for table fruit, preserving and kindred purposes, that all taken found a ready market. I sell quantities sent for to my vineyard, from various distances, at 50 cents to 30 cents per gallon, according to time of the vintage, or pains in gathering and quantity taken at a time; but the price at Norfolk, I learned, was much lower-or sometimes two dollars a bushel. And so esteemed are the Scuppernong grapes here, that for the time of ripening, or about two months, the berries ripening in succession, vineyard of a quarter of a dollar each, and most guests pay an entrance fee into the on pic-nic days, sometimes a hundred at a time, prefer this to all other grapes. A gentleman near Warrenton, 20 miles west, from a small Scuppernong vineyard, made clear, last vintage, a hundred dollars, by selling grapes in that town. Seeing, then, the superior excellence of this grape in every way, (except in quantity, not quality, of saccharine and alcoholic properties,) it is no marvel that its culture is rapidly extending over all the South,-hundreds of the rooted vines annually sell at from 20 to 25 dollars per hundred. I distribute them to distant places South, from my nursery, and good Scuppernong wine is increasing in reputation and circulation every year. And as to Southern and Western vineyards: “Ephraim need not envy Judah, nor Judah, Ephraim." But let all work on harmoniously, to free our country from so many annual millions of foreign dependence for wines, not so good as may be made in our midst by intelligence and skill. Throughout the South, by putting one-third spirits to any sort of grape-juice, (but espeThe brandy is from distillation of Scupper-cially the Scuppernong, according to Mr. nong juice soured. And the syrup is from Longworth's advice,) an excellent wine may the sweet juice reduced by boiling. Twenty be made, worth a dollar a gallon. And, in per cent. or more off the price per gallon the West, or North, by the same help, or when sold by barrel or cask. A most respectable lawyer, Joseph S. Cannon, Esq., of Hertford, Perquimons county, wrote to me, and I operated in wine-making with his brother, Mr. James J. Cannon, upper part of Chowan county, near the river of that name. (PostOffice, "Ballard's Bridge.") I add here, that sugar. 4. Scuppernong hock (of a beautiful red color, by fermenting one bushel of purple Scuppernong with seven of the white,) at $4 per gallon, made with three pounds of doublerefined sugar per gallon, and peculiar pains in racking, &c. 5. Scuppernong perfect love cordial, $10 per gallon, made with one-third brandy and two pounds of double-refined sugar per gallon. I append here, a kind which I make at my premises, and not convenient to make there, because of the very short time I had to stay on account of the need of my presence at my own vintage, viz.: 6. Purest Scuppernong, $6 per gallon. One variety of this kind is made with a third of Scuppernong brandy, and another with Scuppernong syrup. even without any artificial aid to the juice, in some cases, or with some kinds of grapes, a wine may be made of equal excellence and value. And as to any wines superior, or of higher price, because of more cost and trouble, why that is the matter of taste and choice.Sidney Weller. VIA known DS AND WINES.-It is any of our readers that Cincinnati and is vicinity have acquired great fame for the production of the finer wines; and the following, by Mr. Buchanan, a leading merchant of that city, will be read every where with interest : Selecting and Preparing the Ground.-A hill side, with a southern aspect, is preferred. If the declivity is gentle, it can be drained by sodded, concave avenues; but if too steep for that, it must be benched or terraced, which is more expensive. In the autumn and winter, dig or trench the ground with a spade all over, two feet deep, turning the surface under. The ground will be mellowed by the frosts of winter. for the next, and thus keeping the vine down to within one and a half or two feet of the ground. Nip off the ends of the fruit-bearing branches two or three joints beyond the bunches of grapes, but do not take off any leaves. If both the cuttings grow, take one up or cut it off under ground, as but one vine should be left to each stake. Culture. The vineyard must be kept perfectly clean from weeds and grass, and hoed two or three times during the season. Keep the grass, in the avenues around, down close. About every third year put in manure by a trench the width of a spade, and three or four inches deep, just above and near each row; fill in with two or three inches of manure and cover up with earth. Planting.--Lay off the ground in rows three by six feet; put down a stick, twelve or fifteen inches long, where each vine is to grow. The avenues should be ten feet wide, dividing the vineyard into squares of one hundred and twenty feet. Plant at each stick two cuttings, separated five or eight inches at the bottom of the hole, but joined at the top-until the skins are pressed dry. throw a spadeful of rich vegetable mold into each hole, and let the top eye of the cutting be even with the surface of the ground, and if the matter is dry, cover with half an inch of light earth. Wine Making-Gather the grapes when very ripe; pick off the unsound and unripe berries. The bunches are then mashed in a mashing tub, or pressed through a small mill, breaking the skin but not the seed, and thrown into the press, and the screw applied The cuttings should be prepared for planting, by burying them in the earth immediately after pruned from the vines, in the spring; and, by the latter end of March, or early in April, which is the right time for planting, the buds will be swelled so as to make them strike root with great certainty. Cut off close to the joint at the lower end, and about an inch in all above the upper. Pruning. The first year after planting, cut the vines down to a single eye (some leave two;) the second, leave two or three; and the third, three or four. After the first year, a stake six and a half or seven feet long must be driven firmly down by each plant, to which the vines must be kept neatly tied, with willow or straw, as they grow. Late in February or early in March is the right time for spring pruning in this climate. Summer pruning consists in breaking off the lateral sprouts and shoots, so as to leave two strong and thrifty canes or vines-one of which is to bear fruit the ensuing season, and the other to be cut down in spring pruning, to a spur, to produce new shoots. These may be left to run to the top of the stake, and trained from one to the other, until the wood is matured, say in August or September, when the green ends may be broken off. One of these vines is selected next spring for bearing fruit, and cut down to four or six joints, and bent over and fastened to a stake, in the form of a bow. The other is cut away as well as the fruit-bearing wood of the last year, leaving spurs to throw out new wood Fermentation. This process is very simple. The juice is put into clean casks, in a cool cellar, and the casks filled within about four or five inches of the bung, and the bung put on loosely. The gas escapes, but the wine does not run over. In from two to four weeks, generally, the fermentation ceases, and the wine clears; then fill up the casks and tighten the bungs. In February or March, rack off into clean casks. In the spring, a moderate fermentation will again take place; after that, the wine fines itself, and is ready for bottling or barreling. Use no brandy or sugar, if the grapes are sound and well ripened. Keep bunged up or corked tight, and in a cool cellar, and the wine will improve, by age, for many years. Statistics. Cost of my vineyard, of six acres-fourteen thousand four hundred vines: Trenching, two feet deep, $65 per acre. Cost of 30,000 cuttings, at $2.50 per thousand Total........ Cost of attending the first year--vine-dresser $216, and a hand for one month.. say..... Hauling, carting, &c.... Contingencies, &c.... Average cost, say $300 per acre........ $390 60 75 70 435 55 $1.085 $231 246 20 68 160 $1,500 The third year the vines will produce grapes enough to pay the expenses of that yeargenerally more. For the fourth year, and a series of eight | WESTERN VALLEY-PROGRESS OF THE or ten years in succession, the experience of GREAT WEST IN POPULATION, AGRICUL the past would indicate the following calcu- TURE, ARTS AND COMMERCE. lation to be something like a fair one: "Thou movest, $1,500 Like climbing some great Alp, which still doth rise- The immense regions of the American Union, To attain this, the vineyard must be favorably situated and well attended, by a competent vine-dresser, and free from the disastrous visitation of the rot. Vine Culture in this Vicinity.-It is estimated that over three hundred acres are now planted with the vine, within a circuit twelve miles round Cincinnati; nearly two-thirds of which were in bearing last year, producing, notwithstanding the rot, so injurious to many, about 50,000 or 60,000 gallons of wine. The Catawba is our great wine grape, and principally cultivated. The Isabella is not preferable for wine, and is only used for table use. Mr. Longworth, with unwearied zeal and liberality, is still experimenting with new varieties, and may yet find a rival for the Ca tawba. N. B. Some vineyards, in good seasons, have produced at the rate of 600 to 800 gal lons to the acre; but this is rare. The usual yield is 300 to 400 gallons, where there is but little rot. A bushel of grapes, if well ripened will produce three and a half to four gallons of wine. By proper economy, a man may have a vineyard of several acres, in a few years, without feeling the expense to be burthensome. Commence by trenching one acre in the winter, and planting it out in the spring; next year another acre, and so on for five or six years. After the first year, he will have his own cuttings, from the first acre, and also grapes enough to pay for the cost of planting the succeeding additions to his vineyard. If he has suitable timber on his own land, the stakes can be got out in the winter with but little outlay in money. By this course, the cost of a vineyard of six acres, would not be half as much as mine. Some prefer planting in rows, four by five -others, four and a half by four and a half; and on level land, three and a half by six, or even seven feet. I have merely given, in the foregoing remarks, the course pursued by myself and some of my neighbors, without pretending that it is preferable to others. Four great valleys have their mountain ranges and divisions in this vast whole, which we have had the temerity to contemplate at a single view, as the heritage which our fathers left to us and our children, and which we, so far from squandering, have wisely administered and enlarged-the Valley of the Rio Grande the Valley of the Colorado of the West-the Valley of the Oregon-the Valley of the Mississippi. Of course it would be impossible in the limits of a magazine like ours, to notice in detail the striking features and interesting characteristics of each of these regions. We must confine ourselves, for the present, to one of them, which, indeed, presents material for volumes, and which at this day is most interesting, because most in progress-the MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. We shall, however, refer to each of the others casually. The Valley of the Rio Grande.-After the question of boundary had been settled at the close of our war with Mexico, the Rio Grande, insisted upon as an ultimatum by our government, became to us an important region. It already contains several considerable towns, and the Island of Brazos, near the mouth, has been selected by the United States for the erection of hospitals and other public buildings, store-houses, &c. Point Isabel, on the main land at the mouth, has already classic interest, and must, from its admirable position, be the seat of an important We are not exactly incommercial town. formed as to the draught of water, but know that its approaches are safe and accessible. It is a much more favorable site, we should think, than Brazos, the latter being liable to overflow, as in 1844, during the hurricane months, by the rise of the river, with great destruction of property. The Mexicans, aware of this danger, were indisposed to improvements at Brazos. Point Isabel is entirely safe from all this. |