Hyatt's hand-book of grape culture

Front matter

I

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H M $>j

Table Of Contents

Paet I. — Inducements to Engage in tiie Cultuee of tee Geape Paet II. — Climatb Best Adapted to the Geowtii of the Vine Paet III.— Best Soils foe a Vineyaed ....

Paet IV. — Location, Site and Exposuhe fob a Vineyaed Paet V. — Peepaeing the Geound ....

Paet VL — Laying out and Planting the Vineyaed Paet VII. — ^Peuning and After Culture Paet VIIL — Best Vabieties of Geapes for a Vineyard Paet IX. — Vineyards of Morocco and Spain: Compaeed with California. The Author''s First Vineyaed in the "Land op THE Mooe" ... . . . .

PREFACE TO REVISED EDITION. ISc

choicest and most valuable wines of commerce are made. The mildness of our climate and the adaptability of our soil will enable us to produce in California every variety — the most tender and delicate — of the grapes grown in France or any other portion of Europe. "We regard, therefore, the selections we have made from the list of the best wine grapes of France as very important to our viniculturists, and well worthy of their attention, and as important for them to experiment with, in selecting varieties for wine-making purposes.

We have also added new varieties of grapes, for table use and for raisin making, that have been tried and proved most successful for such purposes in our State.

"We have carefully revised the body of our work, and endeavored to have the various clerical and typographical errors corrected.

Our revised and enlarged edition is now presented to the public,

with the best wishes of

The Authoe.

Vacaville, Calipoknia,

Part I. Inducements To Engage In The Culture Op The

GEAPE.

Grape-growing and wine-making to be the leading interests of the rural population of California; profits of the business; vinicultural progress and prospects in California; 40,000,000 of vines and 2,000,000 gallons of wine the estimated products of California for 1865 ; number of acres and vines in France ; Wilson Flintls description of the vintage or grape harvests in California ; and of the early superiority of the Putah "Valley region for grape-growing ; the dry weather and favorable vintage season ; no rot ; the abundance of grape sugar and grape alcohol in California wines accounted for ; the quantity of California wines to the acre greatly beyond that of foreign countries ; the quality may be equal or superior ; estimated amount of grapes sold in the San Francisco market ; capital, energy, enterprise, all that are required to place California at the head of grape-growing and wine-making, countries ; Haraszthy's statement of what is necessary to insure success in grape culture in California; the Reese River Reveille's opinion of viniculture in California ; wine-making a leading source of wealth in California ; Stockton Independent's view on the subject ; no failure of the grape crop in Cahfornia in eighty years ; opinion of the United States' Commissioner of Agriculture; reports of the same, expressing the opinion that California is destined to be the "great wine country of the world;" the author advises to cultivate the vine somewhere.

The inducements to engage in the culture of the grape in California may be briefly summed up thus :

First, California has the best soil and climate in the

20 IJS^DUCEMENTS TO CULTIVATE

United States, if not in the world, for the growth of the grape.

Second. The grape crop newer fails in this State, either in drought or in wet seasons ; or has not for a period of eighty years.

Third. The grape requires no irrigation in California.

Fourth. It is the most sure, profitable., pleasant.^ and healthful rural employment that can be engaged in.

Ffth, Grapes of the best varieties can be produced in this climate and soil from two to three months earlier than in any of the Eastern States, and also all foreign varieties that none of those States can produce at all in the open air; consequently, when the Pacific Railroad shall be finished (in three to four or five years, probably), we can supply New York and other Eastern cities at large and remunerative prices, without competition.

Sixth, Such grapes as are not required for table use can be made into wine that improves and will grow better with age ; the improved quality and enhanced value will far more than doubly compensate for the interest on the value of the stock kept over.

Seventh. There is no danger of overstocking the vnne tnarJcet ; the demand will exceed the supply for a century to come.

Eighth. Grape vines do not, like most kinds of fruit trees, deteriorate by age, but grow better and more fruitful the older they become.

Nhith. They do not, when properly planted, suffer from mildew or other disease, nor from noxious insects, in California.

Tenth. We can produce raisins^ as well as wine, and all the choice varieties of foreign grapes, of the best quality.

Eleventh. The best lands for grape culture in the world can be had in California, at from $10 to $100 per acre, while the grape lands in Ohio, and other Eastern wine-growing sections, are selling for from $500 to $1,000 per acre ; and planted vineyards in Europe as high as $10,000 and upward per acre.

We shall endeavor in the following pages to demonstrate all these facts, and many more, in relation to vine-growing in this country.

Grape-growing and wine-making are soon to be the great business enterprises of the rural population of Calilbrnia, presenting, as they already do, greater inducements to the enterprising husbandman than almost any other branch of husbandry.

It will be seen, by the method recommended in subsequent pages of this work, that an expenditure of only about $1,400 per year, on the average, for six or seven years, will give to the vintager, at the end of that period, a closely planted vineyard of one hundred acres, or 272,200 vines, which would be worth at least $100,000. According to the estimate of the products at the end of the seventh year, as made by Col. Haraszthy, the vineyard would yield a profit of 25 per cent, per annum, on $1,000 per acre, or $100,000 for the entire vineyard. And as the vineyard, instead of depreciating, is only growing more valuable as it increases in age, what business can pay better, or is more sure of success, than this ?

VINICT7LTUEAL PROGRESS IN CALIFORK[A.

At the commencement of the past year the author had occasion to prepare a statement of facts and estimates.

22 INDUCEMENTS TO CULTIVATE

showing the progress of grape-growing and vinicultural operations generally for the preceding year, from which the following statements appear : The production of wine for the year was estimated to be 2,000,000 of gallons, and the number of vines at 40,000,000.

If we take these 40,000,000 vines as the present number in California, when they shall all come to the age of say three to five years, it may be fairly calculated that they will produce 40,000,000 gallons of wine each year. Probably within three years from this time, this amount will be produced. A great advantage in the culture of vines is, that the older they grow the more they will yield. And if the prospects of the vine shall be as favorable for the next five years as they are at present, we do not think it extravagant to estimate the number of vines in California, at that date, at 100,000,000. This may seem extravagant ; but, at the rate of increase for the past few years in California, we shall soon overtake France and the best wine-growing countries in Europe. In France they have 6,250,000 acres in vineyards, w^hich, at 600 to the acre; would be 3,750,000,000 of vines. And what is there to prevent California reaching the products of France, before the close of the present century ? Can Ohio, or all the States East, equal this exhibit in California ?

Speaking of the grape-harvests in California, the difierence of climate, &c., Wilson Flint, of Sacramento, in an able paper in the Report of the Department of Agriculture, published in Washington, in 1863, says : " This joyous festive season comes in July and continues until December, it being earlier or later according to the locality where the particular vineyard may happen to be situated. At Wolfskills, on Putah Creek, in Yolo County, the Mission grape ripens in July; while in Sonoma, not more than

THE VINE IN CALIFORNIA. 23

seventy miles distant, but near the cool sea atmosphere, the same variety does not ripen until October. One of the most favorable features in vine-growing in California is to be found in the dry weather, which continues entirely through the ripening season. This has the effect of ripening the grapes uniformly. When a bunch of grapes seems to be ripe, every grape on that particular bunch will be found equally ripe. So favorable is the autumn to the grape, that no signs of rot are ever discovered, and the earlier ripening bunches will often be found hanging on the vines, perfectly cured raisins. This favorableness of season gives to the grape an abundance of grape-sugar, which, in the process of fermentation, becomes grape-alcohol, and thus accounts for the strength of California wines, making them equal to the strongest European, and not requiring any addition of alcohol distilled from grain or cane sugar, as do most European wines, as well as the wines of the Atlantic States."

As to quantity^ experiments have shown that the soil and climate of California will produce more than double the yield per acre of any European wine-producing country. France and German wine countries are said to produce 175 gallons to the acre, and Italy, under the best circumstances, about 400; while California will produce 1,000. And we have in California 20,000,000 acres of land, more or less suitable to the growth of the vine — covering a territory extending the whole length of the State, about 600 miles north and south, about 100 miles in breadth, lying just back of the coast range of mountains that skirt the Pacific shores of our State from the borders of Mexico to Oregon. In this broad range of country, also, the climate is not excelled by that of any country of Europe, not excepting balmy Spain or sunny Italy. This is the testi-

2-^' IXDUCEMEXTS TO CTTLTIVATE

mony of those who have resided in those countries as well as this, and we can confirm it from our own personal experience ; and it is generally conceded, by the best viniculturisis. who have had experience in vine-growing in the old world and in California, that wo have grapes and can produce them to any extent, that will make as good quality of wines as any of the varieties raised in Europe. All it requires is to select the best varieties, keep the wines jt>«?*e, and until they have age enough to give them the requisite body and flavor. The grape crop has never been known to fail in California, nor to suffer, to any extent, from the mildew, or the ordinary diseases to which it is subjected in other countries, and especially in the Eastern States of our country, where the vine has been damaged severely during the past season, particularly in Ohio, Indiana, New York, <fec. In addition to the superior vinous quality of our grapes, we can produce as fine table grapes and as luscious raisins as France, Spain, Germany, or Italy. We suppose that not less than $200,000 worth of table grapes have been sold during the past year in San Francisco market alone, at a price ranging from 5 to 75 cents per lb., or, at 10 cents per lb., a fair average we believe, it would make 1,000 tons, or 2,000,000 lbs.

What, then, is wanted, with all these flattering prospects before us, to make California one of the richest and most prosperous vinicultural countries in the world ? The answer may be summed up in three words: Capital — Energy — EnterpTise.

But we must consider the culture of the vine, says Col. Haraszthy, not only as carried on by wealthy companies and rich private individuals, but also by men with small means who wish to embark in this so well paying branch of industry. What a chance for such individuals ! What

THE VINE IlSr CALIFORNIA. 25

a diiference between them and the grain or stock farmer ! A man engaged on a grain farm needs at least 160 acres to make a living. To fence this in California it requires cash for material, as lumber, posts, and nails, in a favorable situation, outside fence and division fence, at least $1,000, besides his labor; one pair of horses, harness, wagon, harrows, plow, hoes, spades, grain and hay for his horses, seed for his land, provisions for eight months, another thousand and five hundred dollars, or in all $2,500. In any other country but California, a man who possesses $2,500 considers himself well off. In this sum, however, no price for land is included, this he gets from the Government, if he finds any left. Now, how is it with the man who has no such sum as we have stated ? what is he to do ? and what can he do? He can plant a vineyard with very little capital ; what does he need ?

First of all a pick, a crowbar, a shovel, a spade, an ax and wheelbarrow, and one year's provisions. He goes to work, rolls the rocks out of his way into a fence, inclosing ten acres therewith, or with chapperal and brusli, as either of the* two are good for fencing wine lands, and he will usually have plenty of them to make his fence. This done, he hires some neighboring farmer to plough up for him this land, and exchanges work for him in liarvest time ; or; if no such chance exists, he goes to work, digs his holes, plants his vines ; when finished planting, then he hoes the space between the vines with fork-hoes. It is hard work ; but industrious men, anxious to get an independent home, will do hard work. The planting and cultivating his newly-planted vines v/ill not take him more than half the year ; the balance of the time he can work out, and earn enough to supply him with provisions for next year. He annually increases his plantation ; in the third year he 2

26 INDUCEMENTS TO CtlLTIVATE

has a small income, enough to bay his provisions, and in course of six years, this man will be independent, with an income of a couple of thousand dollars, and worth in property from ten to fifteen thousand dollars. This is the difference between the farmer and the vintager : one can begin with nearly nothing, the other needs, at least, $2,500; these are not imaginary things, but facts.

'Viniculture in California. — Says the Reese River Reveille: Col. Haraszthy has written a very interesting letter to the farmers' paper, the Rueal Home Journal, relating to viniculture in California. From reading Col. Haraszthy's communication, we would almost be induced to believe that vine-growing was a better business than silver mining. It is very pleasant to advocate the interests of a country like California, where buds sprout, fruit blooms, and birds sing in the winter time ; but quiet pleasures are not always perfect pleasures ; and the case of California life does not satisfy as well as the strifes and occasional great success in the mines.

Says the Stockton Independent : It is really a matter of astonishment that a field of wealth, so expansive and inviting for the production of the 'grape as California embraces, has remained so long, in a measure, unoccupied. -There is every thing to encourage and nothing to deter the vine-grower. View the subject as he may, correct reasoning will bring him to no other conclusion than that it is an occupation which cannot fail to reward ordinary industry and intelligence in a very liberal manner. The labor is light, healthy, and cheerful, and the reward a matter of certainty. Thousands of men, industriously inclined, but who are physically unable to follow the hardest kinds of manual labor, could find profitable employment in the vineyard. The success of the pursuit is no longer an ex-

THE VINE IN CALIFORNIA. 27

periment, but one from which an annual revenue, exceeding that of the gold mines, will unquestionably be forthcoming, if the attention is paid to the subject which its great importance justly claims. No farmer who possibly can plant grape vines on a large scale should neglect to do so, and do it too at as early a day as possible, for he will find that, in the end, nothing he can do with his land will prove more remunerative, or more satisfactorily requite him for his labor.

'Wine-ynaking a Leading Source of Wealth. — Already it is a well authenticated fact that, in all the elements necessary to make it the vineyard of the world, says the same authority, there is no country which surpasses California. In virtue of climate, quality of soil, and extent of territory, where is the country under the sun which annually yields a vintage more uniformly excellent and sure, and likewise requiring so little care and attention ? The crop never fails, nor is the fruit ever diseased. The shores of the Mediterranean do not equal the slopes of the Pacific, and the chalky hillsides of Andalusia do not excel the gravelly hills of the mining counties of California in the production of grapes, from which wines of unsurpassed richness and sweetness can be manufactured. The Riessling wines of the Rhine, or the famous product of the country near Naples, will yet be eclipsed on our own golden hills. Burgundy, Hock, Medoc, St. Julian, Frontignac, Madeira, Muscat, Margaux, Malaga and every variety of wine produced in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, or anywhere else, can be equaled, if not surpassed, in our own land of sunny skies and equable climate, if the proper exertions are put forth and efibrts made to do so. Grapes of every known variety flourish and yield abundantly in California, and it only needs more attention

28 IKDXTCEMENTS TO CULTIVATE

directed and energy applied to the development of a source of wealth unequaled even by what is esteemed the great fountain of riches — the mines. The different modes of propagating, training, and pruning the vine, are secondary in importance to the necessity of planting and enlarging the area of vineyards, so that wine in abundance may be exported from the Pacific shores, and the people be profited by the enriching element, which nature has so lavishly bequeathed to them. Already there are nearly fifty millions of grape vines in the State, and there should be a thousand millions, more or less. It is estimated, we believe, that a grape vine ten years old, is good for a gallon of wine, and certainly a gallon of good wine is good for a dollar. Suppose, then, that one thousand million vines — only twenty times the number now growing — were planted this year, the revenue derived from the yield, in the course of ten years, would be immense.

Already has the wine business become an important feature in the interest of the State, and is destined to become a leading pursuit of the people. While grainraising and other agricultural pursuits are, to some extent, precarious, the annual crop of grapes may be expected and counted upon as a certainty — something which w^ll never fail to repay the labor and means expended, and even were it not so profitable as many other occupations, its certainty alone is a sufficient incentive to induce thousands to embark in the business.

Certainty of the Grape Crop in California. — Mr. Wilson Flint states that at some of the Missions records have been made of the character of each year's vmtage, through a period of upward of eighty years ; and there is not an instance mentioned where the grape crop was a total, or even partial failure, or produced wine of an infe-

THE VINE IX CALIFORNIA. 29

rior quality. This is more than can be said for the best wine countries in Europe, where, during the past sixty years, there have been but eleven good wine crops.

In the monthly report of the Department of Agriculture, for September, 1865, is a letter to the department, from W. S. Powell, of Tulare County, California, in which he says : I do not think you have any just conception of the adaptability of this country for the production of wine. Practical experience enables me to say that 1,000 gallons of pure wine is but a fair yield from an acre of vines six years old; and what may seem to you more incredible, Mr. James Persian, our largest cultivator of the grape, and most experienced vintner, assured me, but a few days ago, that he candidly believed, in a favorable season, he could select an acre in his vineyard that would yield 2,000 gallons of wine. So peculiarly favorable is the climate, that the most tender European varieties are perfectly hardy here. The Chasselas de Fontainebleau, White Chasselas, and Black Prince are now ripe.

And this was the 8th August.

The Commissioner of Agriculture, in introducing this letter to his readers, adds : We have heretofore frequently referred to its (California's) favorable climate for grape production, but it is even better than we had supposed.

From an article which we find in the report of the Statistician of the United States Agricultural Department, for 1864, we make the following extract from an article on vine culture in California : — The assurance which the act of Congress has given, by its increased duties on foreign wines, that the home market will be at the command of the home production, is infusing a greatly increased vigor into vine planting in California. The fact, too, that it is a crop that Avill seldom be much injured by the occasional extreme

20 INDUCEMENTS TO CULTIVATE

droughts of the California climate, and that its habitual dryness during the summer is highly advantageous, will also give an additional stimulant to grape cultivation. With these motives to the full development of the great natural advantages that California has as a wine-producing country, we may anticipate such an advance as loill make it the great wine country of the loorld ; and as this advance progresses, to draw such attention as will increase correspondingly the demand for its wines.

And ice agree with the above writer fully.

But to those who are unable or indisposed to come to California, to engage in grape culture, Ave would say : Cultivate the vine sorneiohere^ and in a small way, if not situated so as to go largely into the business. Nothing pays better, or is more attractive in country life.

Part II. Climate Best Adapted To The Growth Of The Yixe

Importance of a Suitable Climate ; the Rain Gauge of Yine-Growing Countries ; Climatology of the same ; Compared with California — shown "by Thermometrical Tables ; Suitableness of the Climate of California for the Gro^\i;h of the Grape ; Various authorities on the subject ; the several Latitudinal Limits in the Eastern States within which certain named Yarieties of the Native Grapes will succeed ; none suited to the culture of the European grape in the open air; CaUfornia adapted to all.

The influence of climate^ in its altitudes, degrees of heat, and rains, on grape growing, has not, as jnstly remarked by an intelligent writer, received that systematic consideration which is due to its importance. The Western States have at times in the summer months a moist, sweltry atmosphere, during which the grape rot is most fatal. The general elevation of these States is from 500 to 700 feet above the sea level. Whether a greater elevation, from 1,000 to 2,000 feet above it, would not be free from the rot, is a question not determined. In a dry climate like that of California^ the altitude is immaterial, for the dryness is sufficient in the lowest localites to shield the grape from rot. If these localities have a rich and moist soil, then the vines are liable to be unhealthy.

The report of the Department of Agriculture for 18G2 has several tables of the quantities of rain which fall

CLIMATE BEST ADAPTED during the year in California, as compared with the Eastern States and some of the vine-growing regions of Europe. These tables, with additions of our own, follow this, and will be found most interesting for reference and comparison.

Annual Eain Gauge.

Inches of Eain.

g d

a pi a

8.8 6.9

5.5 7.4

11.3 6.9 7.0

15.0 3.1 7.4 7.0

9.0

12.4

7.8

4.3

3.9

5.3

9.0

7 3

5.6

12.8

O

Pacific Coast

San Francisco, Cal

4.6 3.3

2'.5

4.2

11.9

9.1

6.5

7.5

7.3

9.5

12.7

10.0

14.1

8.2

10.2

7.9

6.3

7.3

7.1

5.4

6.6

4.5

.7 .1

"'.1

.1

14.2

11.6

8.0

11.0

11.2

12.3

14.6

10.4

14.0

9.0

9.5

10.8

8.0

7.4

7.5

6.2

3.6

.2

3.7 3.2

1.0

10.0

9.8

7.0

8.0

7.0

7.6

8.7

9.7

12.3

11.5

10.4

11.1

7.4

10.3

9.3

6.1

9.5

5.8

17 8

Sacramento

Los Angeles

13.5

15.4

9.7

State of California, 1856

12.7

Eastern States..

Cincinnati,

47.4

Cleveland,

State of Ohio

37.4

28.5

State of New York

41.5

Ann Arbor. Mich

Pittsburg, Penn

28.6 36.8

St. Lonis! Mo

State of Missouri

43.0 39.1 jSTashville, Tenn

52.8

Europe

Turin, Italy

86.5

Valley of the Rhone

Vevay, Switzerlaml

34.4 33.7

Manheim, on the Khine

Bordeaux. W-^st France

Dijon, East France

34.0 31.2

Chalons, Northeast France

St. Michaels, Azores

Malaga. Spain

23.3 31.4 23.3

Madeira

27.7

Lisbon, Portugal

27.1

The climate producing the least rain or moisture during the summer and autumn, when the grape is ripening and being gathered, is the best climate for the grape. It will be seen by the foregoing table that the rain gauge of California is nearer like that of Malaga, the best grape region in the world, perhaps, than any other country. California has, in spring, 4.2 inches, Malaga 4.5 inches. In summer

TO THE GROWTH OF THE VINE.

California has yV of an inch, Malaga y^ inches. In autumn California has 1 inch, Malaga 5.8 inches, showing that the autumn, the vintage season, in California is better even than that of Malaga. New York, Ohio and Missouri, the other States compared, are far behind. California has also, it will be seen, less rain by half than any of the principal grape-growing regions of Europe, not excepting France, Italy or Spain, Madeira or Portugal.

Mr. Strong, of Boston, in his recent excellent work on Grape Culture says: That the rain has great fertilizing power is beyond question. With the vine it promotes excessive vegetation, and, also, by an excess of humidity at times, with sudden and extreme change to heat and dryness, causes rot and mildew. The growth of the vine is far greater with us (says the same writer) than at Los Angeles, where the grape is so stubbed that it supports itself without a stake, and there is no necessity of summer checking. Yet the salubrity of the Pacific air, and the uniformity of climate, make it a fiivored spot both for European and American grapes.

Eange Thermometrlcal.

Sacramento.

Malaga.

Extremes at Malaga.

Maximum.

Minimum.

Jail

56°

Feb

53°

Mar

57'

Apr

May

58° 66°

June

92°

July

Aug

Sept

78° 78° 74°

Oct

63°

Nov

Dee

50' 55°

Mean

66°.91 ■

CLIMATE BEST ADAPTED

MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.

Mean, Year.

Mean, Summer Months.

Mean, Autumn Months.

Mean, for Julj and Aug.

California

New York

Ohio

62*

45" 48° 40"

65".5

57°.0

62°

60°.3

70- 70' 71*

74°

62° 67° 57°.

61°.4

Missouri

Lisbon

72°

Madeira

Bord?aux .. ..

Cadiz

72° 78°

Naples

Marseilles

76°

76°

Sacramento, Cal. — Highest range, June, 100°; Lowest, Dec, 25*.

By the tliermonietrical tables on the preceding page, which we have made up from various sources, believed to be the most authentic, it appears, taking Sacramento as a criterion or average for California, that the mean average temperature of the year was 67° ; at Malaga 68° ; and that the three summer months at Sacramento averaged 79°, and at Malaga 78° ; Madeira and Lisbon each 70°. The three autumn months, or vintnge season, in Sacramento, indicated 68° ; at Malaga, 71° ; Lisbon, 62° ; Madeira, 67°.

From this, as well as from the foregoing table showing the rain gauge of California, as compared with the finest gra23e growing regions of Europe, it will appear that there is no more favorable climate for the culture and growth of the grape, than California.

Other authorities, in abundance, might be cited to establish this fact, were it necessary. We will allude only to a few of these:

Frederick Muench, of Missouri, in his excellent little work, " School for American Grape Culture," snys :

California is, perhaps, of all the United States, best adapted to the growth of the grape.

James S. Li^^pincott, of New Jersey, in an essay in the

TO THE GROWTH OF THE VINE. 35

Agricultural Report of the Department of Agriculture of 1862, on the subject of the proper climate for the grape, says :

The degree of moisture or dryness is of essential value in judging of the productiveness of different years and different places. A summer mean, or rather the mean for the season of growth, is generally, a certain measure of fitness, and the mean temperature of 65° is defined the lowest that will permit the vine to ripen.

Boussingaults, in his " Rural Economy," says : The lowest summer temperature permitting the vine to succeed in Europe, is 65°, and a summer below 67° will not produce wine of any valuable quality or quantity.