The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-11-29

Z portion of the State Of North Carolina, and 1t
is found wild in this region, as we'll a. purple
I variety commonly called with as Bul!us-
. Inc CaIawba, as it's name designates, 10 also
native OF this State, and it is TO this day to be
found wild on the Catawba river in Lincoln
! eounty, and all over that neighborhood. be-
) lleve that II rs from this locality that Mr.. Album
first obtained it in $780, or whereabouts, and sue
eessfuly cultivated it near Georgetown, ID. c.
! Mr. n Longworih, of Cincinnati, in letter
TO me- states OF his having obtained the Cataw ba
That he now so successfully and protitably cul-
| tlvates in that locality, from Mr. Album. OBJ
tanned last winter from Senator Haws. of. Lin.
cola county, cuttings Of the !. Lincoln grape"
which from the appearance Of the wood, is nei-
ther more nor less than synonym for the ca
tawba
The history of the socalled isabelle grape"
is not SO easily comprised, owing to diversity of
opinion. have taken great trouble to investigate
It's history, and as yet j have only obtained some
Inks of this broken chain. And first, IL the
Isabella" native or a foreign grape!
DIR. James +. Mckee, of this place, whose
high scientific attainments and observation in
the natural sciences, imparts TO his opinion and
statement of facts great certainty, and his tes-
timony is entitled to great weight ia settling this
| first question. He states thpt he distinctly re-
members ~ far back as 1910, when the Laspey-
re grape (the Isabella Of Vim. Prince,) was sold
in the market Of Wilmington by Mr. I.aspeyre,
who cultivated it in Bladen county, and that he
perfectly remembers that Mr. Laspeyre had
slated it to be a European variety, and not only
sold it aS such, but it was never doubted by Dr..
McRee and Others, that the vine had all the
character OF a European variety, and what makes
1t still more certain, is that even in this congo
NAL climate 1t frequently rots and did rot with
the iirst cultivation of it. Mr.. NJ Longworth has
entered the same complaint against il to me.
DR.. Mckee states also, that he heard, as early
as he can re MEMBER that the said grape had
been imported by Mr.. Laspevre, and that Cat
alonan having seen the grape here, claimed it
az being grape common in Spain, his native
country. or course DIR. McRee has never con-
sidered the grape an Indigenous one but
European, possessing, as it does, all the charac
ters ola Europern grape, and uone of our native
grapes. This is also my own conviction. In
the whole OF this neghborhood the said grape is
to be found in gardens, and everywhere its
origin is referred to the liberal distribution of
cutting by Mr. Laspeyre So that Mr.. Las
peyre must have planted his grape vines at least
five years before he brought to this market his
grapes from Bladen Co. This would carry us
back to 1905, period far anterior to all the
dates Of the supposed cultivation of the "Isabez
"a" mentioned by Mr. Allen in Mr. Downing's
horticultural. 4r
These Northern writer's doubling not on
superficial examination of the case, at MANY
hundred miles distance from the scene, have
undertaken to settle for the good people of the
State OF N. G. that which even here, on the spot.
has required the most assiduous diligence to
ferret out the facts in this case and even then,
prudence and caution have caused me TO be very
circumspect how came to conclusion. So
much for this first point. Mi
Now for the history of the so-called Isabel.
Ia" grape.
On the authority and positive statement of
Mr.. X. w. Gibbs, son of Mr. r. Gibbs ofthis
place, and the nephew of Col. George Gibbs,
after whose wife, (Mrs. Isabella Gibbs, the U.s.
abella" grape was named by VIM Prince He
states that his father, Mr.. r. Gibbs, at the
tine he purchased Woodford plantation on
Cape Fear river, in Brunswick county, N. Car,
DINA, found a vine planted ia the garden by
the previous owner, which vine was taken I'D
root and branch, sometime between 1910 and
1918, Che cannot positively say, but he knows
that it must be at this time as we shall soon see)
and sent to Col. George Gibbs, who was then
merchant in New York, and who resided at
BROOKLYN, in whose garden he planted it. Soon
after (l8l5) the narrator, Mr. R. w. Gibbs,
then boy, was sent to school at BROOKLYN, and
resided with his uncle 2t years, and found the
helped TO take care of it every winter by laying
it down and covering it with earth, &c. When
Gen. Swift inhabited the same house, he still
found the vine in the garden, and it is there that
Dir. VIM. Prince first saw the vine, and named
and propagated it, as he himself has published
SO FIR so good; but still the identity of the
stock sent to Brooklyn and the Laspeyre grape
IS not completely made out, except in their gen.
sral resemblance and habits, and the still greater
reason of their Identity is that, the Isabella"
lad It's origin in country where the Iaspeyre
grape was in very great repute and was very
generally cultivated at that time
Comte Odart, in his celebrated work on the
description and classification of the known grape
lines in the world, alluaiug to the Isabella
ays: Although the president of several vine
,ardist congresses have called it excellent and
rave recommended its cultivation, and though
he Marquis Ridolh, distinguished agricuturist,
md director of an agricultural institute in Tus-
amy has praised it's supposed advautages,I still
mite with many French vineyardst,s who think,
lie Giyself, that this grape with n fit and medi-
inal taste, is good for nothing, neither for max
ng wine nor for the table. However, we can
lot deny to it of being pretty productive"
But here Is one reco nmendable, we mean
he Catawba-which is easily known by its
Ferries, very slightly red, and its taste has Pc
uliar and agreeable favor, slightly vinou. In
his respect ii much preferable to the Isabella
which has been brought from the same country
,atawba has appeared to me rather unproduc-
i've, and its grapes do not reach easily their
maturity those of the stocks of this chapter,
hough it blooms first. Its lunches slightly
longated, or rather fine, and keep fora long
me, the berries are covered with bloom which
eadens its red color; they are big, round, and
'ell spaced. Its wood is of uniform reddish
rown colour, its leaves large round, curling
nder, and their under surface is cottohy, which
nparts to it white colour"
ondon paper states that deputation from
he Society for the Emancipation of Women"
'ated on Madame Kossuth with an address, in
'hich, among other things, they expressed " the
'ish that the wife of the honored hero of the
gy would communicate to these Iodiae har Van