The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1879-12-06
rhe scuppsrnong Grape.

While phylloXera are destroying the
large vineyards OF France and Califor-
mia, the Southern people should pay
more attention to the propagation Of
this hardy variety-the scuppernong-
which is adapted almost exclusively to
the soil and climate of the South.
Downing, in his large work on "fruit
culture" says about growing this grape
at the North: 1--WE have made several
trials with the 'Scuppernong' grape,
but find it is too tender for a Northern
climate, being killed to the ground by
our Northern winters.
What makes the scuppernong so val
liable is its extreme hardness and free
dom from the attack of insects and dis
eases. Last winter, in low places, the
vines were seriously injured by cold,
and we had two or three acres killed;
but it is not once in years that the Their
mometer reaches zero, as it did last
year.
1t makes most excellent wine and
champagne, and like the orange tree,
will live to u great age. 1t is the com-
ing grape for the South. &
Mr.. Van Buren,, of GAINESVILLE, Ga,
who has paid much attention to the
cultivation of this grape writes the fol-
lowing for the Country Gentleman
now have quite large variety under
cultivation, having, raised large NUM-
her of seedlings from the seeds of the
Scuppernong, which is white or yellowish
grape, with berries varying in size from
three-fourths of an inch to one and a
quarter inches in diamiter, the clusters
varying from one to twenty berries, and it
is the only native grape which carries the
Muscat aroma. None of the varieties |
have ever fail to produce good crops, and
the vines are entirely free from disease IN
vine, leaf and fruit. The weight of fruit
on each vine is beyond belief by those who
have never seen this class in full bearing,
l have this season had arbors crushed down
with the great weight of the fruit on tt EN-,
although they were built of good, stout
chestnut fence rails. Some grape growers
complain that the clusters are too small;
this is not so; each vine is huge cluster in
its entirety.
In gathering them when ripe, they are
shaken down on to sheets made for the
purpose, instead of being picked by hands
as is the case with the cluster varieties; and
in so bushels of the berries, which are
gathered entirely free from stems, one will
not find a rotten or imperfect berry. My
vineyard, which is small one, has this
year Welded four gallons of must or juice
per bushel of fruit. l have one vine,
seeding from the Scuppernong raised by
myself, which will compare very favorably
in quality with the Black Hamburg, while
the berries are from l to II inches in diam
eter, of black color, speckled with russell,
This class of grapes always blooms about
the 18th of June, and consequently the
clusters are never injured by frost The
growth of the fruit is very rapid, the crop
being ripe by Sept 25th. Could not this
grape be cultivated in your grape houses
at the North? 1t is killed to the ground
when the mercury gets to zero-does 1t get
as low as that in your grape houses? If not,
your summers are long enough and warm
enough to ripen the fruit. have one variety
that ripens the last of August. 1t is fine,
large black grape, also seeding from the
Vines of this class are
never pruned, and rarely MANFRED or cul-
tivated. The roots running an inch or
two below the surface of the ground, cult
walton Is entirely impracticable, and the
leaves from the vines furnish most of the
manure they get. Stable manure is death
to the vines, while they delight in lime and
decayed vegetable matter. Another pecu-
Iiarity is that the vines cannot be propaga-
ted from cuttings, as arc other varieties,
but only from layers, so that it is slow
process to increase them.