The Cultivation of The Native Grape, and Manufacture of American Wines | Page 6

in which it flourishes best. I have seen it in Ohio, but it
does not look there as if it was the same grape. And why should it?
They drove it from them and discarded it in its youth; we fostered it,
and do you not think, dear reader, there sometimes is gratitude in plants
as well as in men? Other States may plant it and succeed with it, too, to
a certain extent, but it will cling with the truest devotion to those
localities where it was cared for in its youth. Have we not also found,
during the late war, that the Germans, the adopted citizens of this great
country, clung with a heartier devotion to our noble flag, and shed their
blood more freely for it, than thousands upon thousands of native-born
Americans? And why? Because here they found protection, equal rights
for all, and that freedom which had been the idol of their hearts, and
haunted their dreams by night; because they had been oppressed so
long they more fully appreciated the blessings of a free government
than those who had enjoyed it from their birth. But you may call me
fantastical for comparing plants to human beings, and will say, plants
have no appreciation of such things. Brother Skeptic, have you, or has
any body, divined all the secrets of Nature's workshop? Truly we may
say that we have not, and we meet with facts every day which are

stranger than fiction.
The Concord had as small a beginning with us. In the winter of 1855 a
few eyes of its wood were sent me by Mr. JAS. G. SOULARD, of
Galena, Ill. I grafted them upon old Catawba vines, and one of them
grew. The next year I distributed some of the scions to our
vine-growers, who grafted them also. When my vine commenced to
bear I was astonished, after what I had heard of the poor quality of the
fruit from the East, to find it so fine, and so luxurious and healthy; and
we propagated it as fast as possible. Now, scarcely nine years from the
time when I received the first scions, hundreds of acres are being
planted with it here, and one-third of an acre of it, planted five years
ago, has produced for me, in fruit, wine, layers, cuttings, and plants, the
round sum of ten thousand dollars during that time. Its wine, if pressed
as soon as the grapes are mashed, is eminently one of those which
"maketh glad the heart of man," and is evidently destined to become
one of the common drinks of our laboring classes. It is light, agreeable
to the palate, has a very enlivening and invigorating effect, and can be
grown as cheap as good cider. I am satisfied that an acre will, with
good cultivation, produce from 1,000 to 1,500 gallons per year. My
vines produced this season at the rate of 2,500 gallons to the acre, but
this may be called an extra-large crop. I have cited the history of these
two varieties in our neighborhood merely as examples of progress. It
would lead too far here, to follow the history of all our leading varieties,
though many a goodly story might be told of them. Our friends in the
East claim as much for the Delaware and others, with which we have
not been able to succeed. And here let me say that the sooner we divest
ourselves of the idea that one grape should be the grape for this
immense country of ours; the sooner we try to adapt the variety to the
locality--not the locality to the variety--the sooner we will succeed. The
idea is absurd, and unworthy of a thinking people, that one variety
should succeed equally well or ill in such a diversity of soil and climate
as we have in this broad land of ours. It is in direct conflict with the
laws of vegetable physiology, as well as with common sense and
experience. In planting our vineyards we should first go to one already
established, which we think has the same soil and location, or nearly so,
as the one we are going to plant. Of those varieties which succeed there

we should plant the largest number, and plant a limited number also of
all those varieties which come recommended by good authority. A few
seasons will show which variety suits our soil, and what we ought to
plant in preference to all others. Thus the Herbemont, the Cynthiana,
Delaware, Taylor, Cunningham, Rulander, Martha, and even the Iona,
may all find their proper location, where each will richly reward their
cultivator; and certainly they are all too good not to be tried.
Now, let us see what progress the country at large has made in
grape-growing