Arizona weekly citizen., 1882-01-22
Vine Culture in Arizona.

| lUCsOS, A. I.s Jan- lS, lSo2.
 EDIToR CTHES:-Mr. Edward L. Wetmore's article, Your own vine and fig tree" which appeared on the 16th i.---a ;-. st--='.r..., e .-lr valuable paper, was not only timely, but l presume the first step m that direcIo-- in our Terri tory. which undoubtedly will be followed to the advantage of our country.
 The mineral wealth of country caus- es. in the commencement, a great influx of people; most of them arrive under the impression that in our western eldOra- dos fortune can be made in the course of few weeks or months, but they soon find out that mining requires hard labor and patience for a number of years be- fore anything is realized, and that the children of fortune. who turn with the first spade of dirt bucket full of gold up are few, and only in long intervals of tune sudden fortunes are made.
 A number of these arrivals remain in the Territory and commence to em- ploy the blow and the hoe, tools which develop the richest mines upon the whole globe, mines of which the pro- ducts are more valuable than all precious metals, and without which human life would cease.
 Leaving for the time all other agri- cultural pursuits, I will mention my personal experiences in the viticulture of our indegenious vines. The native American vines in the southern portion of our Union belong to the family of the wits vulpira or wits rotundifolia vari- ety. These vines differ greatly Tn their habits and in their constituent parts, they contain more and different acids from the wits vinifera or bunch grape, and require a different treatment dur ing their cultivation and their manufac- ture into wine.
 For a number of years was employed and paid great attention to the culi' vation of the indigenous vines in our southern states, and manufactured from their berries the most excellent wines, still and effervescing.
 In the month of July to August, 1881, I was for some time at Prescott, Arizona. There 1 made the acquaintance of Mir. Dan HatZ, proprietor of the Pioneer hO- tel in that town. Mir Hatz made in 1880 nlne barrels of wine from native grapes, which he purchased from Indians and Mexicans, who gathered the wild fruits in the mountains. The wine was of ex- cellent quality. fine flavor and pleasant aroma, and by the month of November, | 1881, all the nine barrels were sold at retail in his hotel.
 Mir. Hatz has sent some samples of his wine to Mir. Charles A. Wetmore, | President of the Viticulture Com mission of California, where the wine was examined and declared pure and | faultless; besides, Mir. Chas. WetmOre l recommended an addition of such native ! Gndigenous) wines to the California wines, the latter containing superabun- dance of sacharine matter which is coun- terbalanced by the iudIcial addition of wine from our wild grapes.
 The imported varieties of vines from California will undoubtedly grow luxur- iartly and yield good harvests in most localities of our Territory, but even the unpromising locations can be utilized by planting them to indigenous vines and many q barren spot upon farm will repay thousandfold the labor spent upon ! it. Another main point to be consider | ed Is the cultivation of our indigenous | vines: they are free from the attacks Oi the phyloxera, and most profitable. Vines grafted upon stocks of indigenous vines will resist the destruction from that par. asite. EDwARD PRESS.