The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-10-12
MONDAY. OCTOBER IL, 1868
For the Dispatch.
The Object of Grape Culture Is Profit.

aHcVnJScU. Va "Efspc SakkshEc tS f1hcs
My attention having been called to a
short article which appeared in your paper
headed sc Native Grapes," / shall, with
your permission, make few remarks
thereon, which hope may not be out of
place.
I, / take it for granted that the object of
any business followed by men is living
that is, profit is to be made out Of it; and
the larger the profit the more satisfactory
the business. ;0n, reading the short article
in question, this question arose in my mind I:
"What object had sMr.sJoplin in sending
those grapes of his to Richmond to an exhi-
bition of the Horticultural and Ponological
Society of the State?' 1t must have been
to induce some of US to embark in the culti-
yation of the article. If this was his OBJ
ject, until they know more about his grapes
than has yet been vouchsafed them to know,
/ hope no one will be guilty of the folly Of
acting on his suggestion. l do not know
what others thought of the, grapes in ques-
tion, but, for my part, I will say that it is my
deliberate judgment if Mr.. Joplin has been
cultivating his Peaks of Otter" grapes
!" "thirty-fve years !" he has been engaged in
the business just thirty-four years toolong.
-Ifthey are any better thanthe "pure and un-
adulterated" +" Fox grapes of Dry river, Rock
ingham county, or of the west slope of the
Blue Ridge, in the same county; or if they
are any better than many wild or Fox
grapes found in the woods the present sea-
son around Richmond, / have been unable
to discover it. And they are not true
Foxes, either. They have less pulp and are
less acid but they have the same rough
ness to the taste, and are very much smaller
in bunch and berry. 1t is barely possible
that i" excellent wine " could be made from
such grapes 'swithout the addition Of any
thing; and to have done himself justice
MIR. Joplin should have accompanied his
grapes with bottle or two of the "excel-
lent wine" said to have been made from
them, so that the Society might have judged
Of its value for themselves. If the wine
made from this grape is really good, and
the vine is as healthy and productive as
Mr.. Joplin says it is (and no one denies it)
then it will prove really valuable acqui-
sition, though it may not be fit to eat. But
"proof of the pudding is the chewing of it,"
And so the proof of good wine is the tasting
of it. Next time let Mr.. Joplin send some
Of his wine along with his grapes.
Understand me, Messrs. Editors; and I
do not want Mr.. Joplin, whom | know not,
to misunderstood me. | am too much in
earnest in this business of grape-growing
and wine-making to undertake to cast ridi-
cule on the attempts of any one to intro
duce new variety Tor an almost unknown
old one) to public notice. 1t is the un-
doubted right of any one to do 60, and |
shall be the last man to question this right !;
but our greatest misfortune at present is
that we already have too many varieties or
sorts of grapes, " fine for the table and fine
for wine," and we should not add to the list
anything not believed to be superior In
more than one respect to anything We now
have. In fact, if we of Virginia were to
limit ourselves TO the cultivation Of but
some half dozen kinds of grapes, and de-
vote all of our energies to the production of
fruit from them, l think grape culture
would soon become one of the most popular
because most proitable) pursuits among
our people. There is the Concord, noble
grape, early, hardy, and productive-suit-
ing almost all soils and locations, and grown
with the greatest ease. There is the Nor
ton, not so early, not so productive, nor go
fine for the table as the Concord, but good
grower, hardy vine, pretty fair to the
taste (not rough nor harsh), and an excel
lent winemaker of forty years trial. There
is the Hartford Prolific, earlier than the Con-
cord, and in every other respect nearly its
equal. There is the Clinton, q very good,
productive, hardy wine grape. There is
the beautiful, delightful, productive, hardy,
healthful, but slow-growing, hard-to-grow
Delaware. There is the Herbemont,-per-
feet bags Of wine, fine for the table,-a
rampant grower, a most prolific bearer, and
yet "tender plant" that is very hard to
propagate, and equally as hard to take care
of after it grows. Let us plant these, and
care for them as they should be cared for,
and grape-growing in Virginia will 10
longer be problem to be solved, but GER
tainty that will soon infuse new life into
the wasting energies Of a glorious old mother,
whose fame we all revere. The "Peaks of
Otter" grape may do; but let us not waste
time in trying it, but go to work at once and
plant extensively of the kinds known to be
good and known to be profitable, because
thousands have tried them and pronounced
them So. This is my advice. "G."