FROM THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER.
On the Grape Vine, with its wines, brandies, and dried fruits.
No. 1.
No principle of action in the business and industry of the United States has been so beneficial to them as the adoption of new objects of culture by the planters and farmers, whose old objects of culture were likely to become redundant, and to fall in price. Cotton and sugar are well known and important examples. There are good grounds for estimating our whole cotton of our best year, (Sept. 1817, to Sept. 1818,) at forty-two millions of dollars, according to the price on the wharves of our sea-ports for that which was exported to foreign countries, and the price at our factories, stores, and dwellings, of that which was manufactured at home. It is now manifest that the East Indian and South American cotton greatly injure our markets; and as this arises from growing, permanent, and substantial causes, there is reason to expect the continuance of the injury to us from the foreign rival cotton cultivation. A brief and plain view of the history and prospect of cotton, will be found in the Philadelphia edition (A.D. 1818) of Rees' English Cyclopædia, by Murray, Bradford & Co. under the article or head of the "United States." The facts there stated, with many known subsequent circumstances, will give rise to serious reflections, in the minds of the landholder and the statesman, upon the subject of the protection of the productions of our own soil. The industry of the landed men of the United States is manifestly and unalterably much greater than any, and than all, the other branches of our domestic or national industry. The mercantile and manufacturing branches result almost entirely from the landed industry. While, therefore, the legislative and executive governments raise revenues of 271⁄2 to 60 per cent. on a great quantity of foreign cotton cloths from India and Europe, and a greater revenue from the foreign manufactures of tobacco, and a still greater revenue from the foreign manufactures of grain, of fruit, and of the cane, to the great fundamental and convenient support of American manufactures, and while they are free to go further, if they find it right, in the joint encouragement of our agricultural and manufacturing industry it will be found beneficial to the landed interest to inquire into other means of promoting the prosperity of the Colossus of our country—the agricultural industry.
There can be no doubt that, between the sites of the vineyards of the Lower Schuylkill, Southwark, of Pennsylvania, Butler, of Pennsylvania, Glasgow, of Kentucky, New Vevay, of Indiana, and Harmony, of the same state, on the north, and the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico, on the south, the United States possess the climates and soils of "the vine-covered hills and gay regions of France." The sweet orange grows, in safety, in groves and gardens, in the vicinity of New Orleans, at a greater distance from the sea than any place of equally safe growth, in Provence or Languedoc, of France. As our country shall be cleared and drained, our climate will be still less severe in the states on the Mexican gulf. In the north, our climates of New Vevay and Harmony, in Indiana, Glasgow, in Kentucky, 37° to 38° 30' N. which are the present northern extremes of successful experiments in the vine cultivation, are as favourable and mild as the climates of Champagne, Tokay, Lorraine, Burgundy, and Hockheim, which are fine northern regions of the vine in France and Germany. Between our New Vevay, in Indiana, and the Gulf of Mexico, the states of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, South and North Carolina, Tennessee, Indiana, and large parts of Virginia and Kentucky, must give us all the vine climates of France, Germany, Switzerland, and Upper Italy. This vine district of the United States is much larger than all those vine countries of France, Germany, Switzerland, and Upper Italy. The crop of wine and brandy in the vine country of France alone—though our vine country is more than twice the size—has been estimated at 100 millions of dollars. Let us then consider the propriety of a diligent inquiry into the cultivation of the vine, and the preparation of wines, brandies, dried fruits, and cremor tartar, in the United States, in order to maintain the prosperity of the landed interest by the variety and prices of our crops.
The present duties on foreign distilled and fermented spirits and liquors, (brandy, gin, rum, arack, wines, beer, ale, and porter,) and on dried fruits, though laid for revenue, afford a great and sure encouragement to the establishment and the manufacture of the grape. The demand will increase with our population, and the facility and certainty of the culture and crop will grow with the clearing and draining of our country. Ridges, hills, mountains, rocky lands, any steep ground, gravelly, stony, sandy, and other inferior lands, (if only dry,) will yield profit in large crops or in fine qualities of wine, or both. Fresh and dried grapes are both favourable to health and frugality. Ripe grapes have been administered to whole regiments of troops in France, who have been ravaged by fluxes and dysentaries.[18] The quantity of wine computed to be produced in France, is ten millions of casks, of nearly 63 gallons each, on two millions of arpents (not 2,000,000 acres) of land, often not fit for wheat, rice, or tobacco, valued very low, on a medium at fifty francs the cask or French hogsheads. This is three times the value of the cotton crop of the U. States, on a medium value, produced in 1818 or in 1819, and demands our early and serious attention, particularly from the Gulf of Mexico to the end of the 39th degree, when the country in that degree shall be cleared and drained in its wet or marshy parts.
It has been already observed, that ridges and hills are the most suitable shape or form of country for vineyards. The most proper exposure is from south-east to south. It is believed that all southern exposures will do. The propagation may be by seeds, or by cuttings, or by bending and covering a part of an old vine so as to make it grow out in another place at a proper distance. The plough is of much use in the cultivation, so that care must be taken to plant the vines at such distances as to facilitate the use of the plough and the harrow. The best grapes which can be obtained should be used, in order to put the culture forward. These may be foreign or American, native or imported. A harsh grape to the taste may produce a better wine than was expected, and more and better brandy. The finest grapes of Europe and the African isles are supposed to be native wildings improved by culture and selection. The region of the plum and peach appears to include the region of the vine. Although the south is the proper sphere of the grape, its cultivation there will leave the bread grains, tobacco, hemp, the grasses and cattle, to the more exclusive and profitable culture of the states north of the proper region of fine and abundant crops of wine. We pay annually to foreign nations a sum of money for wines, spirits, and materials to make spirits, and for fresh and dried grapes, as great as our whole specie medium. So important is this subject, in various points of view, to all the states, that it is respectfully recommended to the superintendants of all our public, agricultural, and philosophical libraries, to procure all the treatises on the culture of vines and making of grapes which are to be found in the languages of France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Great Britain.
The experiments made at Harmony in Pennsylvania, at Vevay, on the Ohio, and Harmony, on the Ouabache, both in Indiana, merit the utmost attention of the United States. It appears that in the present uncleared and uncultivated state of the country, Harmony, on the Ohio, in Penn. was probably too far north for making wine, though not for fruit. That Vevay and Harmony, in Indiana, are more suitable climes for the wines, will appear from the following letter from a respectable gentleman at Vevay to a very respectable friend of his, lately on a visit to Philadelphia. It is dated the 28th of August, 1819. The intelligent and experienced writer from Vevay, thus expresses himself: He "thinks the whole of Alabama doubtless better adapted to the culture of vines than the more northern country of the United States;[19] because the only two species of grapes that succeed in the United States are of the late sort, having not time at Vevay, (Ind.) to ripen. The Alabama season, being longer, will give more time, especially the Madeira grape, which gives the best wine of the two, where it can ripen and yields most. But it will not do at all at Vevay; and does better at Glasgow,[20] Ky. The various gardeners at Kentucky can furnish some. Vine dressers would go to new vineyards from Vevay. They have had 500 gallons of wine per acre at Vevay; more often 150; and 260 is a good crop. The Madeira grape would give more than the Cape of Good Hope grape, where it would prosper, but must have time to ripen, to be good. Of the labour, much may be done by women. They do about half. The men trim, make layers to fill vacancies, plough, harrow, hoe, and carry the grapes, and make the wine. None of those works are heavy. But trimming requires attention and discernment, for the vine-dresser must look two years before him, when he cuts each scion; women never do it, though light work. He has seen many women do it as well as any man. A little work in vineyards is to be done by night with lamps. When the grapes have got their size, the crickets, (not of the house or field) eat, in the night, the bark of the stem of the bunches, and ring or girdle them so that they die. They injure the bunches rapidly. They must be watched and searched for with lamps, by night, and destroyed. He says the native vines will not do to graft good kinds of grapes on: he has tried it often, without success. Grape vines grafted on the same kinds do well, yet they are a different tree, being dioic, while the vineferous kinds are hermaphrodites. I have found the same wild vines in Switzerland, and the kind called sour grapes makes pretty good wines; but are a smaller bearer than the grape vines. They are in Morerod's vineyard, at Glasgow, Kentucky. The Spanish grapes of Mexico and South America should be tried. They have been long cultivated. He is raising grape vines from the seed, to obtain flavour and quantity of wine. The vine is of long life, but it is ten or fifteen years before it bears fully from the seed. Variety, however, is an object. Vines planted by cuttings, which have taken root freely in the first year, bear fruit in three years: in five they are in full force. He has considered and inspected the vineyards of Europe, and the cultivation by the plough and otherwise. It is to be studied to save labour and make the greatest crops. If the fendant vert will grow as well here as in Switzerland, 800 gallons per acre might be made. They cultivate by the plough in Languedoc, about Montpelier and Lunel. We make wine here to be like Madeira, and sell it at 371⁄2 cents per quart, and $1 25 per gallon; but cannot make enough to send abroad, or to keep for ripening. Morerod made a cask of 800 gallons, full of wine, of last vintage, to be kept eighteen months or two years. He has seen wine (made of grapes like Vevay) at Glasgow, (in Barren county, Kentucky,) better than Vevay wine. The grapes were gathered a fortnight before the Vevay grapes. It is probable that wine of the banks of Tennessee will make 1-4 brandy; if of Cape of Good Hope grapes, common proof; Vevay yielded 1-5th; the best cider 1-10th; so do the best Burgundy wine, and that of the border of the lake of Geneva, in good years. The strongest of all the wines that I know of, is that of the south of France and Spain, which yields 1-3d brandy. The peculiar mode of vine cultivation at Vevay, Indiana, is worthy of attention, being a combination of various European modes, and American improvements adapted to the country. Some young men, bred at Vevay, would be useful in other places. Mr. D. thinks the blacks may be taught to cultivate vines." So runs and concludes the letter from the judicious writer, at Vevay of the United States, settled by persons from the original Vevay of Switzerland. It is very instructive and would seem to prove, as so much of our country continues in the wood and forest state, and with many undrained swamps, making a humid atmosphere, and a moist soil. Vevay, in 38° 30', is not yet perfectly so favourable, as the vicinity of Glasgow, in Kentucky, where a dry, hard soil, occasions the grape to be freer from injury by moisture of the earth, and of the air. Glasgow is about one degree and one half more southern than Vevay. These indications are distinct, nice, clear, and strong in regard to the vine climate of our country, at present and in prospect.
In the hilly Spanish colonial country of North America, about the 29th degree of north latitude, south of the Rio bravo del Norte, there is authentic evidence, in a report to the government, that the vine grows well, though its culture was forbidden by the crown, produces good crops of fine wine, and supplies the province and its neighbours. That country being as far south as any part of the Floridas, it is ascertained that, where this country has become, or shall be made dry enough and cleared, the vine region runs to the southern limits of the United States, even if we should maintain our right to Louisiana in extenso, in consequence of the apparent frustration of our offer to limit ourselves by the Sabine.
The most distinguished wine of Spain is the true and best Xeres, or Sherry of the district around the city of Xeres de la Frontera, in Andalusia. The vineyards of that district are, in situations corresponding in temperature with the most extreme southern parts of East Florida and Louisiana. It is interesting to our inquiry, that all the Portuguese European wines are produced in situations north of Xeres, such as those called by us the Lisbon, the Careavella, the red and the white Port, or Oporto. It is observable, also, that the Malaga, or sweet and dry mountain wines of Spain, long highly esteemed by medical men, those of Alicante and Catalonia, which three kinds we principally import, and all the Spanish brandies we consume, come from districts as far north as that of Xeres. The wines of Castile, and other interior districts of Spain which are consumed at home, and are not exported, are from places also north of Xeres. We can have no reason to doubt, then, that, as our country now is, and shall in future be cleared and drained, and if ridges, hills, and mountain sides, with south exposures, shall be carefully selected, the most southern of our states, territories, and districts, will be as suitable for the vine, its wines, and dried fruits, as the most proper and fruitful parts of the peninsula of Spain and Portugal. The works of travellers, agriculturists, and men of distinction in the arts and sciences, upon the subject of the vine, and wines, and dried grapes of Spain and Portugal, are therefore strongly recommended, by our best interests, to the attention of our citizens, especially concerning the vineyards of Xeres, St. Lucar, Malaga, and Oporto. The Portuguese send to us no brandy; the Spaniards a little of that spirit which is not estimated as good. It seems, from the excellence of the French Cognac brandy, the best, and the farthest north of any denomination of brandy which we know, that the extreme south is not the most favourable for the delicacy, though it is for the quantity of that spirit. The Cette brandy of France is not liked here, but it has been said that much Armagnac brandy is used in Paris. The celebrated French chemist[21] of the grape and of distilled and fermented wine spirits, was a native of Montpelier, and took very great pains to improve the vine, and all its liquors, in that southern region.
A Friend to the National Industry.
Philadelphia, Nov. 1, 1819.
A Wild Goose Chase.
At the early dawn of Thanksgiving day, Mr. Eliphalet Thayer, of Dorcester, (Massachusetts,) took his gun and went to Neponset river for the purpose of getting a shot at gulls. He saw seven wild geese in the river, at which he fired, and hit the gander so as to break his wing. The other geese immediately flew; but the call of the gander brought them down again, so that he had the chance of firing again, and killed the old goose, and one of the young; the four others rose, but the wounded gander by his calls served as a decoy, and they again alighted by him. The third shot crippled another.—Mr. T. then took a boat, and from it killed two as they rose to fly; and soon after shot the seventh. He returned home to his breakfast, about nine o'clock, bringing his seven geese, which weighed about eight pounds each, and produced him above 3 lbs. of feather.
[Salem Gazette.
Imports of Wool into England.
WOOL.
AN ACCOUNT OF THE QUANTITY OF WOOL, (SHEEP'S) IMPORTED INTO GREAT BRITAIN, IN TEN YEARS; DISTINGUISHING EACH YEAR, AND THE COUNTRIES FROM WHENCE IMPORTED.—From an English Paper.
| Countries from whence | |||||
| imported. | 1802. | 1803. | 1804. | 1805. | 1806. |
| lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | |
| Denmark & Norway | — | 105,956 | 212,086 | 445,125 | 61,783 |
| Heligoland | — | — | — | — | — |
| Russia | — | — | — | — | 7,567 |
| Sweden | — | — | — | — | — |
| Poland and Prussia | 228 | 3,532 | 7,925 | 25,189 | 30,767 |
| Germany | 426,091 | 238,256 | 21,628 | 36,787 | 683,988 |
| Holland | 195,843 | 155,270 | 63,019 | 30,244 | 1,127 |
| Flanders and France | 201,195 | 54,714 | — | — | — |
| Portugal & Madeira | 495,213 | 230,430 | 161,204 | 200,366 | 239,945 |
| Spain and Canaries | 5,646,522 | 4,355,254 | 6,990,194 | 6,858,738 | 5,444,165 |
| Gibraltar and Malta | 25,000 | 107,876 | 159,176 | 41,395 | 28,216 |
| Italy and Levant | 86,258 | 437,856 | 206,426 | 35,173 | 8,679 |
| Ireland, Guernsey | 80,754 | 117,225 | 242,113 | 484,929 | 576,914 |
| and Jersey | |||||
| Asia | — | — | — | — | 245 |
| Africa | 453,953 | 163,746 | 3,360 | — | — |
| America, North | 40,216 | 26,073 | 4,939 | 5,304 | 1,636 |
| America, South | — | 20,012 | 86,898 | 21,649 | 20,493 |
| Prize | 105,839 | 4,568 | 48,175 | 361,499 | 168,468 |
| Total | 7,749,112 | 6,020,775 | 8,157,213 | 8,546,378 | 7,333,996 |
| Countries from whence | |||||
| imported. | 1807. | 1808. | 1809. | 1810. | 1811. |
| lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | |
| Denmark & Norway | 481,696 | 11,253 | 35,523 | 363,671 | 12,081 |
| Heligoland | — | 58,814 | 246,441 | 67,311 | 112 |
| Russia | 5,211 | 168 | 896 | 32,149 | — |
| Sweden | — | — | 8,633 | 15,424 | 504 |
| Poland and Prussia | — | — | 76,528 | 123,057 | — |
| Germany | 192,010 | 7,549 | 367,372 | 711,524 | 30,165 |
| Holland | 34,536 | — | 237,052 | 2,873 | — |
| Flanders and France | 61,633 | — | — | — | — |
| Portugal & Madeira | 289,067 | 30,619 | 969,033 | 3,018,961 | 1,790,286 |
| Spain and Canaries | 10,291,316 | 1,961,750 | 4,283,674 | 5,952,407 | 2,581,262 |
| Gibraltar and Malta | 14,349 | 78,130 | 297,445 | 889,098 | 210,236 |
| Italy and Levant | 6,992 | — | 10,244 | 21,554 | 780 |
| Ireland, Guernsey | 299,809 | 75,409 | 93,341 | 63,494 | 10,353 |
| and Jersey | |||||
| Asia | 3,222 | — | — | 868 | — |
| Africa | 6,298 | 10,717 | 3,320 | 29,717 | 11,791 |
| America, North | 406 | 14,196 | — | 4,111 | 20,192 |
| America, South | 61,176 | 67,193 | 213,812 | 116,178 | 69,323 |
| Prize | 25,205 | 37,927 | 3,619 | 23,837 | 2,551 |
| Total | 11,768,926 | 2,353,725 | 6,845,933 | 10,936,224 | 4,739,972 |