The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1883-09-21

OF dollars with vel! established store
IN towA and steady business from the
farm. Truck, fruit and flowers have been
his staple products, but an acre and a
half of his land was put in grapes and
looked after with the care and skill of q
man who knew what be was doing. Last
year that acre and half yielded:
aOO gallons wine, at $l.35 .........S 9l5
1000 pounds grapes (shipped) at 7c... 2lO
l,ooo pounds grapes (retailcd) at lUc... 100
sl,255
If there is another acre and half in
the State, outside of the phosphate beds
that can compare with that Weld. il is
not known of hereabouts. 1t must be
remembered that this is almost entirelv
clear profit. the expense being compare.
tlVely nothlng-no fertilizer, no plowing
no highly paid picking. Q
The late DIR. s. S. Marshall was the
next to plant vineyard, and was SO
successful that he planted another of
iorty acres on Paris Mountain, and has
built complete wine house and cellar !:
the facts of his experience have already
been published in the Ncus. Mr.. H. B.
buist also went into the business, and ia
known to have succeeded admirably, al
though the figures of his yield and sales
have not been stated. Pagan Martin has
young vineyard Oh his place four miles
from town which pays him we'll, and Two
other gentlemen of means will begin
Immediately the planting of vineyards
on their places Oh the mountain slopes,
and almost every garden in and about
Greenvllle now has Il space devoted to
grapes which are improved in size, yield
and flavor every year ~ the knowledge of
the business increases.
The great vineyard of the section,
however, has not yet been allowed to
yield, and is being patiently and labori-
ously prepared for the splendid work of
the future. 1t is owned by a. Carpin,
Frenchman, and is situated three miles
from the city. Mr.. Carpin was born and
reared i'll the wine making district of
France, and had his earliest home in his
fathers vineyard. He is familiar with
every step of vine growing and wine
making. 1t is his business, and he came
to this country to engage in it. He
travelled North, East, South and West,
and visited every place where he heard
of vineyards. After inspecting them all
with the care of an experienced man
who proposed to invest his all, he select
ed the big red hill, on the top of which
he now lives, and began work that no
living American probably is capable of.
He set out to spend his money and his
arduous labor from dawn to dark and to
wait tige yesre fc- the fret dollar tc &c.
turn. He terraced the hill and dug deep
and wide to plant his slips of vine. Up
to last year people in the neighborhood
were disposed to regard him as lunatic,
for he had been digging and delving
and there was no appearance of cotton
or corn and nothing in sight but trench
es aud rows of little sticks. But his
work is beginning to take shape now,
and people generally have begun TO
conclude that Mr.. Carpin has the very
biggest kind of bonanza
He has 10000 Concord and Clinton
grape vines planted on so acres of land.
He is steadily pursuing the French
method of cutting the vines back every
year and preventing them from bearing
until they are five years old AS he
says, he is not after vines but has de-
sire for grapes, and intends that all of
the vitality of the plants shall go into
making the fruit. When his vines are
in full bearing none of them will be over
five feet in length, but each of them will
have stalk as thick as his thumb and
roots reaching far down into the earth.
Vines grown that way in France live and
bear for centuries, and Mr.. Carpin does
not propose to do any replanting after he
has his vineyard set. 4 drought is
blessing to him, because his deep set
vines draw nourishment from far below
ha o,y foc nd ha hnt tha
grapes fast and makes their flavor per-
of rain will trouble him because the
steep hill side will shed water like
duck, and the terraces and bitches will
prevent washing of the soil.
Mr.. Carpin Is now building an i'm.
mense wine cellar with brick walls three
feet thick on the top of the hill. When
completed, it will have a capacity Of
1000 barrels Of wine. A creek runs
around the foot of his hill, and he has
begun dam which will be twenty-five
feet high and will make pond almost
ensircliug the hill Is feet deep and COW
ering 16 acres Of land. The road leading
to the cellar will be the only point at
which there will be access without swim.
ming, and there brick lodge will stand
with man who will keep out intruders.
Mr.. Carpin does not propose to lose any
thing by thieves.
BY the time all of this work is done
and the vineyard is ready, thirty thousand
dollars will have been invested on that
red clay hill. The first picking ofgrapes
will be done in 1885 and in 1886 MIR.
Carpin expects to sell 500 gallons OF wine;
BY 1888 he will be fully at work, and
then the return will begin 20 come. At
the lowest possible calculation the vine
yard will yield 500 gallons of wine TO
the acre. Mr.. Carpin has contract with
Boston establishment TO take all the
wine he can make for ten years at 81
gallon. $500 an acre; 80 acres 5000
a year, and almost all profit, for the ex-
pense of grape picking and wine making
will be trifling. But that is not al.
The tract has 100 acres available TOR
vineyard, and it will be utilized, the Sz
acres being but the beginning: what
does the average agriculturist think OF
piece of land needing no replanting ana
but little culture. costing nothi1g tor
seeding or manuring, good to yield ior
.o,,o hupdreda of vearS and bringing In