Nebraska advertiser., 1868-09-10

we have formed q higher estimate Of
our own ability to produce good wines
than we had heretofore, and from our
Investigations in vine culture we are
now more confident than eve that
America can and viii be a great wine
making country. All that's necessary
for US to rival the choicest products Of
other parts Of the world viii ere long
come with practice and experience.
We have already several excellent va
rieties of the grape born on American
soil, and suited TO it a soil extensive
and varied enough for every range Of
quantity and quality. Who would
discover a patch of ground capable of
yielding a "JOhannesberger,n a ''TO-
kay,u or a "Margaux," need only
make diligent and careful search, and
somewhat between the Lakes and the
Gulf and the two oceans that circum-
scribe u vineyard territory, viii be
sure to find it.
SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT.
The committee, since making their
report on the third branch Of the sub
iect given them incharge, have visited
the principal vine districts of Switzer-
land and Germany, and deem some OF
the observations there made worth be-
ing embodied in the supplemental
report now submitted.
The vineyards to which attention
was more especially given were those
of the borders Of Lake Geneva those
of Phax or Rhenish Bavaria, and OF
the banks of the Rhine, the Neckar,
and the Main.
With regard to the quality of the
soil, we have the same remark to
make here as was made in the former
report, viz, that the vines yielding
the best wine where found to be grow
ing on the poorest soil. GeOlogically,
the soil throughout all the above dis
tricts is very much the same, viz,
basalt and sandstone, both formations
usually seen in close proximity, the
the basalt uppermOst and resting on
the other. The only exceptions were
a few patches of limestone and slate.
The basalt soil is esteemed richer than
the sandstone, and is often hauld on
to the other to enrich it. For instan-
ce, the vine-dresser of Durkheim ac-
tually MANFRED their thin, poor,
gravelly land with tens Of thousands
of yards of earth, brought from the
neighbOring town of Deideshefm, and
yet the Durkheim wine is quite supe-
riOr to that of their neighbOrs. All
this was quite different from anything
we noticed in France; there, calcare-
Gus rocks seem to Underlie everywhere
nor could we learn of any wine of
high repute in France that derive its
| quality from sandstone or basalt. The
vine husbandry af the Swiss and
Germans is ofthe first order. Nowhere
lido you see in their vineyards the
struggling appearance so common In
these of France 1.-THE effect of frequent
laying); but the lines were always
beautifully true and. even. Although
the Intervals or rows were wide enough
| for the pillow to pass, nearly all the
cultivation was done by hand, and
done most thoroughly too. InFrance
as in America, they stir the ground
two or three times during the season.
In the Rhinegan it is done four times;
but Forst Deidesheim and Durkheim
they do it as often as every two or
| three weeks from the beginning to the
end of the season. It is in the above
neighbOrhOOd that basaltic earth is
applied as a manure, as is also clay, to
make the ground more retentive of
manure and this they do to such an
EeXtent that old vine fields are seen
which have been raised visibly above
the level of the others adjoining
them.
The expenditure of labor in a year
on an acre of those fields amounts 60
II .I.-E -, Av-1-11 nnI fDnA- 1or--1
work. In the PhaZ, it is usualtO train
upon horizontal laths or lines of wire
running fifteen inches above the
ground, very much asis done in Me-
doc, only that where wire is used, a
second line is streached above the
other. MI. Guyot, to whose book we
have already referred, argues strongly
in favor of everywhere adopting the
method Of training the fruit-bearing
cane horizontal with the ground and
very close to it. We ought, however,
to note here, that the fields where this
mode was more particularly noticed,
or connected with good results, were
in gravelly deposits of nearly level
surface. Manure is freely used in
| Germany much more sOthanin France
and is prepared and applied with much
care and system. CO1O manure, large
ly compOsted with straw, is the only
kind thought fit to manure vines.
They sprinkle the heaps almost daily,
to keep them moist and allow the mass
to rot, at least twelve months before
being used. It is applied every three
years. AS to quality, it is certain that
some soils, like the poor and unreten-
tive gravel beds of the PfaZ, should
receive more than those of the neigh
boring slopes, and that the calcarOus
earths of France need less than the
sandstone and the basaltic earths OF
the Rhine valley.
GuyOt, arguing strongly in favor of
manure, recommends the French cul-
tivatOr to put on at intervals of three
years a quantity of manure that will
be equivalent in weight to that of the
fruit he has taken off at vintage; while
Mr.. HerZmansky, the steward at job
anuesberg, who tills some fifty acres of
vines, keeps about forty very large
| COWS in his stables. But 1UiU not ma
muriRg hart the quality oftbe Vineg
In our former report we say that
this is an open question as yet, and so
it is in France, and MI. Guyot treats