Daily national Democrat., 1860-05-06
Cultivation Of the Grape.


growing country, by nature. as there is in
the world Grape-growing We consider the
most profitable business, that can be eonnee
ted with the cultivation Of the soil, and We
therefore look forward to the day when Cal
iforni already rich in her golden mines, will
| be the weahhiest portion Of the known
earth.
She has the advantage, in the cultivation
Of the grape. of a market which can never
be surfeitej The world has never yet been
supplied with the juice of the grape, accord
ing to the demand everywhere made for it,
and it never will be. SO scant is The article
that it has been in a thousand ways initiated
and adulterated, in order to make up the
deficit, and even then the demand has not
been supplied. So costly are even the adul-
terated articles that the poorer classes of
drinkers have been, for centuries, compelled
to drink malt liquors and strong spirits in
stead, and these of quality most rlinous to
health. Everybody would drink the juice
Of the grape if it could be afforded In
countries devoted to wine-making, strong
liquors are seldom imLi6ed The essence o
the grape is far more exhilerating, assimilate:
more readily with the blood and with til,
natural flow of the animal spirits, and is nat
uraly more tempting to the appetite.
The inducements for culdvating the grape
aside from the exhautless demand for the
article, are increased by the fact that vine
yard, once established, is a permanent thing
Its productiveness is enhanced with age, and
t the hundredth year of its growth still sees il
: giving forth its fruitful yield. Thus, gener-
! alton after generation Of one family may live
and prosper upon few acres of n vine
e growing region. A peach orchard if we
/ are not in error in our reading, will not
proftably bear more than six or seven years
(at any rate it is so in several Of the Atlantic
States al the expiration of which time the
trees must be dug mp in order to convert the
land to another purpose, it being then unfit
for any more reach-growing.
Another advantage in yine~growing is that
there is in it n great economy Of space In
every vacant corner, in every sly nook. all
along the fences by the side of the house or
outhouses, trailing on the porches and on the
roof in a thousand and one places, unfit for
anything else, the vine may grow and flour
ish.
The capability of the soil of California,
for producing grapes is thus spoken of in a
report of Sidney G.. Fisher to the "Philadel-
phia Society for promoting Agriculture"
After speaking of the rich character of the
Catowba and other wines produced in Penn
syvania, Ohio, and other Western States, he
says
at appears also That wine equal 10 any of
these has been made in California. That
which l have seen has very decidedly the
, flavor Of MADEIRA In that bountiful region,
the vegetable seems to vie with the mineral
world in richness and variety, and will pro-
badly prove in the end a greater and more
permanent source Of wealth The grape
from which this wine is produced is said to
be Of large size and very prolific"
There is no doubt that the soil of Califor-
MIA is far more prolific, in the produce of the
fruit of the vine, than any of the Atlantic
States.
In regard to the prices at which wines ma.
tive to the United States are now selling
Mr.. Fisher says:
"The price of sparkling Catawba of Gin
, cincinati is S12 per dozen of still Catawba
81 90 The demand is far greater than the
supply"
"The demand is far greater than the sup
ply" And this demand is on the increase,
from the frequent failures, of late years, of
the wine-crops in Europe. disease, the
precise nature of which is unknown, has at
tackled, at intervals, the usually prolific vine
yards, and rendered them almost totally un-
productive. No such disease has ever been
known in this country.
In view of facts like these, too much en-
couragement cannot be given to those en-
| gagged in the culture of the grape in Califor-
MIA. 1t is, with proper understanding of
the business, a sure road to fortune As to
the outlay necessary in establishing and
keeping vineyard it may be judged Of by
the expense attendant upon the business in
7 the Atlantic States DR.. Underhill, who
2 culuyates an extensive vineyard at Croton
e Point, on the North River, New York. saws
: that the cost of establishing a vineyard /.
about S400 per acre. lie does not make
wine but sells the grapea One man, h,
o says, can Dc all the labor necessary on 81,
acres, besides cutting the grapes for market
The vines begin to bear the third or fourtl
year after planting and, until they bear, tn,
space between can be cultivated in vegeta-
bles so as to pay all expense of awaiting the
growth Of the vines. lie says that he con-
siders vineyard properly made worth as a
permanent investment from 81 200 to 81, SOC
per acre, and that when it attans the age o.
eight or ten years it will pay good interest
on $4,000 to 81 700 per acre, and that foi
some vineyards this estimate would be toe
low. 1t may be observed, moreover, he
says, that there is no difficulty in combining
- the two purposes of fruit and wine. indeed il
t is advantageous to do so, as the unsaleabl,
e grapes, that IS the punches that are not full
and well formed, make the best wine.
AGAINST TIT is reported that the womel
in Utah are very indignant at the prospect o
any enactment by Congress against Polyg-
amy They say it is curtailing them of then
rights, and throwing them out of the pale O
masculine protection, for "men is skeerce" a
Salt Lake, "and weemen is plenty" Well
we can hardly wonder at their objections tc