The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1879-06-11

where they crossed l wrapped them
with small copper wire, so that in
case a wire should break only thirty
FIVE feet of it could fall. l add the
small wire from year to year as the
arbor grows.
The first two years the object is to
grow as much wood as possible,
hence the vines should he MANFRED
generously with well-rotted manure,
torked in about the roots and out
from them foot or two. After this
I do not consider it necessary to ma,
nure so heavily, but sufficient to keep
the vine in healthy, growing condi-
ton. Bone dust, oak ashes. or any
thing that will furnish potash is best.
The ground between the vines can
be cultivated in other crops until it
is shaded by the vines. / would not,
however, recommend corn or oats.
but sweet potatoes, cotton, strawber-
ries, mulberry, turnips, ETC., always
being careful not to injure the roots
of the vines. Thus the ground is
kept clean and sufficiently manfred
for the vines as they extend,
THE YIELD.
From the best information have
received, and from my own expert
ence, vine three years old that has
been carefully cultivated and ma
nured will yield three pecks
of grapes. Vines planted for
ty feet apart will cover the whole
ground in ten years. An acre of
vines in full bearing will yield be-
tween 900 and 700 bushels of grapes.
A bushel Of ripe scuppernong grapes
will yield at least three gallons Of
must or juice.
l have made at the rate Of 1000
gallons OF must or juice to the acre
on vines fully grown, or, rather, wires
twenty years old. I do not believe
any one knows when the scupper-
nong is fully grown. If it is prop
erly MANFRED or arbored there is no
knowing how far it will spread.
GATHERING THE GRAPES.
think the better way is to put
frame on wagon body. On this
frame tasten cloth with a hole, say
a foot in diameter, in the center Of it;
drive under the arbor, shake the
vines with forked stick, the grapes
roll through the aperture in the
cloth into the wagon body. When
sufficient is gathered for load drive
to the press have shute, say two
feet wide and twenty feet long
place one end at or on the end gate
Of the wagon, and the other in bar
rel on the ground; throw IN the
grapes at the top end, they will roll
down into the barrel the leaves and
trash will remain in the shute brush
them out and throw in more grapes.
In this way three hands and two
horse team can gather an immense
amount of grapes in day. Care should
be taken to throw away the hard green
AID unrlpe grapes. and not to get too
heavy body of grapes in the wagon
at one time OF they will get crushed,
and thus lose large amount Of juice.
MAKING THE WINE.
AS " in making hare soup, it is nee
essary to first catch your hare" so in
making wine, it is necessary first to
get your grapes. Assuming that
you have done this, let us proceed to
make the wine. And here / wish to
mention that it is Of the utmost i'm
portance that every vessel connected
with the making of wine should be
perfectly clean and saoeet. There
should be full supply OF water, so
that the tubs, barrels, ETC. can be
rinsed as often as is necessary. The
barrels or casks in which the grapes
are to be fermented should be all
ready on the stands, sufficient hight
from the floor to permit barrel
lying on its side to set under it. Set
the mill on the top of the barrel in
which the grapes are to be fermented,
and grind away until the barrel is
full, then move the mill to the next
barrel, and so on to the end. The
length OF time the must is left to fer
ment on the hulls depends on the
state of the atmosphere. In
such weather as we have here in the
latter part of September and begin
ming of October, when the .hermom-
eter is, during the day, about eighty
degrees Fahrenheit, twenty-four
hours is about the right time. The
must will then have received suffi-
Gent amount of coloring matter,
boquet and tannin. When it is
ready to be drawn off pull out the