Nebraska advertiser. [volume] (Brownville, Nemaha County, N.T. [Neb.]) 1856-1882, 1858-05-20

without detriment to other departments Of
husbandry. They would yield annually
at least 100000,000 gallons of wine /;
furnish employment both pleasant and
profitable to 100000 people; give an
annual profit of over S500000.000, and
what is still more important, the pure
nourishing juice of the grape would take
the place of the vile, maddening COM
pounds used under the name of wine and
brandy; drunkenness would give place to
sobriety, and our people, nourished by the
grape and its pure wines, would become
as robust and hardy as they are now dar-
ing and indomitable.
You may look upon this as the bright
dream or a too hopeful Imagination. But
it is based upon a careful study of our
climate, soil, native grapes, and the expe-
rience of our vine-dressers.
l fearlessly declare the proposition
solved. The meteorologist, for many
long years with patient watchful care, day
after day and night after night, has
weighed the air with his barometer, gau-
ged its moisture with his hydrometer, and
measured the rain and snow with his
rain-gauge, while the thermometer has
indicated every change and extreme OF
temperature. The record of all these
facts, proves our climate as we'll adapted
to the grape, as it is in many Of the best
vine-growing countries and of the old
world. The botanist has found all the
wild wines of our country at home in our
midst. He has noted their giant growth
in our rich broad valley, and their larger
and more delicious clusters on the dry
sunny hills. The geologiSt has interro.
gated every rock and plant from which
the soils are formed. He has noted the
sandstone, the limestone, the porous
flint, the mari, and the decaying and the
burning plant, all commingling to form a
light dry soil, rich in all the vine demands
for its perfect development. The careful
exact analysis of the chemist give the
same results.
All these facts demonstrate the peculiar
adaptation of our soil and climate to the
culture of the grape. But we are moi
left to the deductions of science alone fol
our conclusions. The vine-dresser, after
fifteen years of careful culture, pronounces
the experiment n triumphant success. He
reports an annual yield and profits faI
greater than my estimates in the forego'
ing prediction.
The Meteorologist, the Botanist, the
Geologist, the Chemist, and the Vine
dresser, each and all, have proved tha
Missouri may compete with France anC
Germany with the production Of grapes
and wine. The terraced slopes and rid
ges of Central and Southern Missouri
with their warm, rich soils; the delightful
climate of our Southern Islands, with thei
clear, Italian skies, and dry bracing ali
, from the Western PTairies; our myrlaC
native vines, gracing every copse ant
thicket, the purple clusters and foamins
, vats of our prosperous vine-dresser, al
proclaim the possibility of these magnifi
cent results.
To hasten this auspicious day some eff
fort should be made to secure the Compl
lalion and wide circulation of work
which shall set forth in a truthful ant
, plain, but earnest manner, the qualities o
/ our climate, as proved by meteorological
5 observations, the properties of our soils a
! shown by geological and chemical exami
, nations; the abundance and character Q
, our native grapes, and the experience c
J our vine growers, and show frou' the fact
thus collected, the peculiar adaptation c
our State to the cultivation of the grape
. Such are the reasons. My propositlO
, is that will be one of twenty 10 give S5
z each to accomplish this purpose; $500
: be given as a premium for the best essa
on the subjects above named, and the re
f naming $500 to be spent in publishin
n and circulating the same.
e Nowwil not the prospect of So 100000
. happy vine-dressers on our sunny hill;
and an annual profit of S500,000,O 900, il
Y duce every philanthropiSt and politics
: economist to hasten the time when on
: ''poor flint ridges" will be as valuable fC
O vineyards as some of them now are fC
: their rich mineral veins; when the vine
n yards of Arcadia will compete in golde
= profits with the glowing furnaces of th
5 Iron Mountain, and the vine.cla hills {
o the beautiful Niangua, will vie in wealt
5 with Potosi and CRANKY!
Very respectfully, your ob'r serv't,
G. C. SWALLOW.