The Van Buren press., 1866-04-07
@ VAN BUREN, ARK. :, APRIL 7, 1866.

L . "
high favored and delicious, and hang on
THE vine until Christmas. In addition to
these choice natives Of Arkansas, have
seen in NC section of the State lying be
tween the Ouaciita and Red rivers, y
choice grape called the Post Oak grape,
/ it being universally found on the Post
Oak lands Of that region. tits of tardy
gre with, bears large, punches are compact
lber,5es pa large as those of the Catawba,
! Of a pale red color, with the thin skin,
issffs'rost no pufp, isssv sweet, and, indeeda
fvprv delicious table and wine grape. This
wine, although, lsnppose, poorly prcpar
ed, was invariably a very fair article, re
Isembling Still Catawba, but with less
musky tiaVor. i'H| "nI IH
The valley of the Ouaehita abounds in
! the growth Of the muscadine in such pro
fusion as is not, perhaps, equalled IN any
/ other part of the world. One may tray
el for days, and is never out of sight OF
this fruit hanging in long black wrcatlrs
above his head, on the brush wood and
the fences of farms. 1t is rich, highly
favored grape, very sweet, and makes an
excellent yea. superior wine, OF high fla
vor and quality, resembling, some of it,
the best muscat. -.
The Scuppcrnong, wei, known white
variety Of the mnsoadine family, and o
still higher order OF grape is also found
lin the southern portions of the State
Some small vineyards were cultivated in
this grape before the war, in and about
Eldorado, and considerable quantity of
wine Of good quality produced. To the
cultivated wine. grapes OF America, just
enough attention has beenpaid in Arkan-
sas to silence all doubt of success TO the
yineiSt, who may desire to embark in the
! vineyard business in the valley of the
Arkansas river Previous to the war ]
had under cultivation quite a number Of
fine American wine and table grapes con
sisting of the Catawba, Diana, Norton S
Virginia Seeding, Delaware, TaKalo,
Herbamont, Concord and Taylors Bull
lett, together with my two natives of Ar;
kansas as formerly described. The first
four and last two mentioned varieties
were in full bearing. l have never seen
more healthy vines than these were, and
the fruit bore was sound and healthy,
with not speck of mildew or blight up
on either vines or fruit. All that were in
bearing, matured their fruit as perfectly
as could be desired. The Catawba has
been cultivated about Fort Smith and
Van Buren for many years, with no com
plant Of mildew or rot. Leonard VIII
haff, Esq, German resident Of Van Bu-
ren, has been annually producing the fin
est Catawba for five or six years on thirty
or forty vines in his garden with no sign
Of rot previous to last season, when
grapes rotted somewhat all over the Unit
cd States. Hon. Jesse Turner has in his
garden at Van Buren, quite number of
grape vines among which are the Cataw-
ba Diana, Concord and ToKalou, all of
which have been bearing for several
years, and all haveproduced fine crops OF
well matured grapes.
Col. Gratiot, of Washington, Hemp
stead county, has for several years been
cultvating quite a vineyard Of Catawbas
with the most iiattcring results. | saw
and examined his vines in the simmer of
1864. They were literally loaded with
fruit then nearly ripe, and not spccli Of
blight of any kind was observable in Ell
ther vines on fruit Writing to me after
wards at Little Rock, he stated that all
mataredwithout the loss Of berry
|. Numerous evidences like the above
might be adduccd to prove that Arkan-
sas is to become ere long, one Of the We
ry best wine producing Statos in the
Union. Most Of the State is q high, dry
country, and by reference to the very able
report OF the late Dr. Owen in his geo
| logical surveys and snalyzatiOns of the
soil Of Arkansas, ne discover that IN ev-
cry portion of tie State, there is a dry
caieerous 'oam abounding in potash and
soda, phosphates and cmbonates of lime
slick and iron. This taken IN connection
with the almost universal fact that the
entire country is underlaid by substrat-
um Of gravel and sand settles the ques
ton OF the adaptelness othesoils Of Ar
kansas TO the growth oithe vine,
feel assured, therefore, thst the time
cannot be far distant when extensive vine
yards viii be found in al parts Of the
State, producing wine Tor the million that
contains no poison, but vine pure as
nectar, that viii pop aud sparkle with its
! own life ~ .ta .
| We haze thus quoted very freely from