Ohio. There is certainly no grape found in America which can be campared with it, being in every respect equal to any variety of the European grape. It is very sweet, perfectly free from pulp, with nothing of that peculiar flavor which is more or less common to all other American species. The Vitis cordifolia of Michaux, said to extend from Pennsylvania to Florida, I have never met; at least any species corresponding with his description has never fallen in my way. There is another small and sweet grape cultivated by many persons, and called "Orwigsburg," which is undoubtedly a European variety, and is therefore omitted in this enumeration of American vines.

Of these twelve species, the most worthy of cultivation are the white variety of the Vitis labrusca, together with the so-called "Isabella" and Catawba, V. araneosa, V. odoratissima, and V. mata—all of which are more or less sweet, and will furnish good wine.

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GRAPE-CULTURE IN MISSOURI.

BY G. C. SWALLOW, OF COLUMBIA, BOONE COUNTY.

Having determined the conditions of soil and climate best adapted to the culture of the vine, it has been the design, during the progress of the geological survey of Missouri, to determine how far these conditions are fulfilled in this State, to what extent and with what success this plant may be cultivated, and the advantages to be derived therefrom. In order to obtain the most accurate data, investigations have been directed to the following points :

1. Persons have been appointed to make meteorological observations, at Springfield, in the South-west; at Cape Girardeau, in the South-east; at Palmyra, in the North-east; at St. Joseph's, in the North-west; and at Columbia, in the centre, in the valley of the Missouri River. These observers have been supplied with the best instruments, and they have made and recorded the results according to the plan adopted by the Smithsonian Institution.

2. The soils have been carefully examined, and all the varieties collected and submitted to a skillful chemist for analysis.

3. The character and habits of all our native vines, and the soils on which they succeed best, have been carefully noted.

4. The experience of our most successful vine-growers has been collected, and the results of their labors compared with the conclusions derived from the examination of the climate, soil, and wild vines.

CLIMATE.

The extremes of heat and cold are not so great as in other vine growing regions; and in the Southern part of the State, the atmosphere is sufficiently dry; but there are occasional changes of temperature so great and sudden as to prove somewhat injurious to the grape at certain stages of its growth; yet not so marked, in the high tablelands of the South and West, as in the North, and in the valleys of the Mississippi and Missouri.

SOIL.

All the soils of the State are rich enough in potash, soda, lime, magnesia, phosphoric acid, and other mineral ingredients, required for the greatest perfection of the vine; but the argillaceous matter is so abundant in some parts, particularly in the North and West, as to render the sub-soil too compact, wet, and cold, except when it is prepared by underdraining and a proper admixture of sand and other suitable materials. In other parts, the vegetable matter exists in such quantities as to produce a growth too sappy or rank.

The soil upon the bluffs, between Booneville and St. Charles, is generally well adapted to the cultivation of the grape, when the subsoil is properly prepared. It contains sufficient vegetable matter, and an abundance of all the necessary mineral ingredients. But the soils resting on the bluffs and ridges or highlands of the magnesian limestone region of Southern Missouri, are by far the best to promote the full perfection of the fruit.

NATIVE GRAPES.

The following species and varieties of native vines have been observed in this State, and the growth, habits, and fruit of each have been carefully examined:

Vitis labrusca (Fox Grape).-This vine, which is abundant, attains a very large size in our rich alluvial bottoms, and on our best upland soils, and has often a diameter of 10 inches. It ascends the loftiest trees, and spreads its branches over their highest boughs, presenting a length of more than 130 feet; but the smaller vines, which are found on the poor soils, produce the best grapes. Those which grow upon the dry ridges, on the declivities of the bluffs, especially of the magnesian limestone, and on the slopes of debris at their bases, exhibit a healthy, firm growth, and produce an abundance of fine fruit. The grapes found in these localities are large, and the pulp juicy and palatable. Many well-known and excellent varieties now in cultivation are derived from this species; of these, the "Isabella," "Catawba," "Schuylkill," and "Bland's," are the most esteemed.

Vitis aestivalis (Summer Grape).—This, like the preceding, is found in all parts of the State, and, doubtless, is the largest of all our vines. It is one of the most striking objects in our magnificent forests. While the stem, like a huge cable, is suspended from the limbs of the largest trees, the branches, clothed in rich foliage, and often loaded wite fruit, hang in graceful festoons over the highest boughs. But the vines growing on the thin soils of the limestone ridges and bluffs, and on the loose debris at their bases, where they are more exposed to the air and the sun, produce the best fruit, and in greater abundance. Vitis cordifolia (Winter or Frost Grape).-This vine is widely dif fused, but is not so large as the Fox and the Summer. Its fruit is small and sour.

Vitis riparia (River Grape).—This species is partial to the alluvial soils along the margins of the streams, and grows to a large size.

Vitis vulpina, (Muscadine of the West, and "Fox Grape," according to Elliot, in the South-eastern States).-This species is most abundant in the southern part of the State. It grows very large, and produces an abundance of fruit, which is highly esteemed. The cultivated "Scuppernong" is a variety of this species. On the flinty ridges of the South-west, it is very hardy, and, though small, withstands the annual fires, and yields an abundance of its excellent fruit.

Vitis bipinnata.-This species is found in Cape Girardeau and Pemiscot counties.

Vitis indivisa abounds in the central and western counties.

REMARKS. The success of several of our vine-dressers in this State has been quite equal to their expectations, and their experience has led them to the same conclusions, which have been deduced from the examinations of the soil, climate, and native vines, namely, that the vine can be cultivated with advantage, in favorable localities, in all parts of the State. It should be borne in mind, however, that these results have been derived mostly from vineyards in the valleys of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, which are not the most favorable localities; for the "mildew" and "rot," the most formidable obstacles they have had to contend with, may be partially or entirely obviated in some other portions of the State.

"The rot," says Mr. Haas, one of our most successful vine-dressers, "attacks the berries when the soil is in a wet condition, in July and August. It is most severe on the low and wet parts of the vineyard.” Mr. Husman says: "The principal cause, all are agreed, is an excess of moisture about the roots, and damp, moist weather." Now, the larger number of our vineyards are located upon a stiff, cold, clayey sub-soil, which unavoidably retains the excess of moisture, and produces injurious effects. This evil may be obviated by thorough draining; or, what is better, by selecting some of the millions of acres in the southern part of the State, the soil of which is warmer, lighter, and richer in the ingredients most favorable to the vine, and the subsoil sufficiently porous to admit a free passage to the excess of moisture.

The "mildew" appears in June, and is attributed to foggy, damp, and hot weather after rains. From observation, it appears that hot, damp weather, accompanied by mists, is much more prevaleat in the valleys of the Mississippi and the Missouri than on the table-lands at the South. The character of the two regions shows, most conclusively, that the excess of moisture must be considerable and permanent. The valleys, which are intersected by broad rivers, are covered with numerous lakes and "sloughs," or with forests of rank growth of considerable extent; but the table-lands are almost destitute of lakes or ponds, and are only partially covered by a sparse and feeble growth of timber; besides, they occupy an elevation several hundred feet above the valleys. No fears, therefore, need be entertained that these obstacles will prevent the entire success of vine-culture in Missouri, should our atmosphere even continue as moist as at present. But we may expect much improvement in this particular, as it is

fully established by experience that the settlement of a country and the opening of the soil to cultivation lessen the amount of rain and moisture in the atmosphere.

Notwithstanding the many difficulties our vine-dressers have had to contend with, and though some of their vineyards are not, to say the least, in the most favorable localities, their success has been encouraging. Those of Booneville have yielded the present season about 6,000 gallons of wine, worth $12,000. One vineyard, of 5 acres, gave a clear profit of $2,000, or $400 per acre. The vintage of Herman was about 100,000 gallons, from less than 200 acres. $1 per gallon, which is less than the value, it will give a profit of at least $400 per acre, or $80,000 on the 200 acres in cultivation. other small vineyard at Hamburg, owned by Mr. Joseph Stuley, yielded over 1,000 gallons per acre.

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The entire cost of vineyards, preparing the soil, setting and training the vines till they come into bearing, varies from $200 to $300

Judging from the statistics before me, I would estimate that our vineyards have yielded an average of at least 250 gallons of wine per acre since 1849, and have brought a mean price of about $1 60 per gallon, which would give an annual income of $400, or a yearly profit of $300 per acre. The vine-dresser, therefore, even in the poorest seasons, can scarcely fail to realize a handsome profit; while in favorable years his gain will far surpass that of farmers engaged in other branches of husbandry.

Such are the results legitimately derived from the experience of our vine-dressers in their early efforts in a new country, with a soil and climate unknown to this species of culture; and as the climate improves, and the soil is opened to cultivation, other modes of culture will be adopted, and more favorable locations occupied.

The table-lands in Southern Missouri, as has already been intimated, are better adapted to the grape than the sites now occupied in the valleys of the Mississippi and Missouri. That portion of Southern Missouri extending from Newton county, in the South-west, to St. Genevieve, in the South-east, usually represented as the Eastern extremity of the Ozark Mountains, is, in fact, a table-land, varying in elevation from 1,000 to 1,500 feet above the ocean. In the west it is sufficiently undulating to be well drained, while in the east it sometimes rises into ridges and "knobs" of moderate elevation. From this table-land, the country descends by gentle slopes in every direction. The surface of these table-lands is undulating, with no mountains nor arid plains to disturb the equable and agreeable temperature usually prevailing in this region. There are no swamps nor overflown lands from which noxious vapors can arise to render the air damp and unhealthy. As these facts plainly indicate, the summers are long, temperate, dry, and salubrious, and the winters short and

mild. It possesses clear, brilliant skies, and dry, bracing air. The atmosphere is not so moist, nor is it subject to such sudden changes as in the northern part of the State, and in the valleys of the Mississippi and the Missouri.

A series of sandstones and cherty magnesian limestones underlie this whole region, with the exception of some few ridges and knobs of granite, porphyry, and greenstone, in the eastern part. The whole is overlaid with a bed of reddish marly clay. The sand, lime, magnesia, and alumina, derived from the disintegration of these rocks, together with the abundance of vegetable matter and the alkalies, caused by the fires which annually overrun this country, form a soil light, dry, and warm, and rich in the mineral ingredients necessary to render it fertile, and suitable in an eminent degree for the culture of the vine. In many places, this soil is underlaid with a sufficient quantity of pebbles and fragments of porous chert to constitute a most thorough system of drainage, while in others the particles of this rock are disseminated through the soil in such quantities as to injure it somewhat for ordinary cultivation.

The bluffs of the numerous streams in Southern Missouri and in the valley of the Osage usually slope back into knobs and ridges, which are frequently surrounded by numerous natural terraces, so regular and uniform that they appear like the work of human hands. These terraces are produced by the disintegration of the strata of magnesian limestone which form the bluffs. Their height varies from 1 foot to 6 feet, and the width of the top from 2 to 12 feet, according to the angle of the slope and the height of the terrace. Their tops are nearly level, and are usually covered with a light, warm, and rich soil, as above described, containing fragments of chert and the decomposing limestone, all wonderfully prepared by Nature for converting into vineyards. They generally surround high, open ridges and knobs, exposed to the free circulation of dry air.

There appears to be but one objection to the use of these terraces for vineyards. In some places, it is thought that the soil is not sufficiently deep to secure the vine against the effects of drought; but, as an offset to the want of depth, it always contains large proportions of carbonate of magnesia and humus, which give it great capacity for absorbing and retaining moisture, as these substances possess this capacity to a greater degree than any of the other ingredients of our soils. Besides, the thinnest soils on these terraces sustain a vigorous growth of prairie grasses, flowers, shrubs, and vines, which usually produce the finest fruit in the State. It is true, the native grapes do not grow so large and juicy in this as in the richer soils, but the vines are strong and healthy, and produce finer clusters of larger and better grapes an improvement particularly observed in the Muscadine, the Northern Fox, and the Summer grapes.

This variety of soil also extends over a large portion of the counties on both sides of the Osage, and over the southern part of Boone, Callaway, Montgomery, and Warren, on the north side of the Missouri, occupying, in all, an area of some 15,000,000 acres, of which at least 5,000,000 might be selected in the most desirable localities, and ap