1859, eleventh............ 1200 probably. 1200 probably. 1 20 Which will show the average yield to have been about 455 3 23 50 40 Will leave a clear profit of.......... Yield of Mr. M. Poeshel's vineyard, (Catawba):- $2 33 It must be taken into consideration, however, that at the time these vineyards were planted it was an entirely new branch of industry with us, and of course numerous errors and mistakes in the treatment of the vines were made. We had also the extremely cold winter of 1855–6, which destroyed almost the whole crop, killing the young wood. The third year the vineyard would probably bear enough to pay cost of attending, expenses, etc. Average yield per acre the fourth year, and all following: 400 gallons per year, at $1 50 per gallon......... Deduct from the cost of yearly labor........ Interest from capital......... .........$600 00 ..$50 00 $100 60 600 00 This will leave a clear profit of......... Yield of an acre of Concord vines for market purposes : $499 40 1000 vines, at least 10 lbs. per vine (probably 15 lbs.)........lbs. 10,000 Lowest market price, at 10 cents per lb............ ..$1000 00 But as the Concord is two weeks earlier than the Catawba, much of the crop can be sold at much higher prices, as it has also a much finer bunch and berry. The whole number of acres planted in and around Hermann may be estimated at about two hundred and fifty acres. But people are planting more every year, and I boldly assert that in a few years the acres devoted to wine culture in our State will be counted by thousands instead of hundreds. And here let me add, that it has been a great drawback to the advancement of grape culture here, that our people are too much disposed to look to Ohio, and the doings of Ohio wine-growers, for examples. We have a different climate here, a different soil, and therefore our treatment must be different, and other varieties may be cultivated here. Let us eke out our own path, like energetic, thinking men. Let us try other varieties-not only those recommended by our Ohio brethren; let us faithfully try all, and keep only such as are worthy of general culture. The fiat of Mr. Longworth against Norton's Virginia has done more to retard the progress in the culture of that invaluable grape than all other obstacles it met with; and why? Because we preferred seeing with other eyes to using our own; and they were not fairly opened until Ohio wine-growers sent here to procure plants of the very grape Mr. Longworth had condemned. But the most serious obstacles are overcome. We have labored faithfully and hard. We have learned something, and are learning. more every day. A glorious future is before us; let as labor with head, heart, and hand, and we may be sure of a rich reward. Let us be willing to listen to the advice of others; but let us also always hold this principle in view, that experience is the mother of wisdom. VINE CULTURE.-BY WILLIAM HAAS. The preparation of land for a vineyard by vine-dressers is expensive, may cost about one hundred dollars per acre. The land of our vineyard, containing eighteen acres, belonging to the Boonville Wine Company, is turned over with plow and shovel to the depth of thirty inches, the top soil brought down and the subsoil up. Others prepare the land with deep plowing only, producing equally as good crops of grapes, it is said, as more costly prepared vineyards. The distance of the vines in the vineyards near Boonville is from four to six feet in the rows, and the rows sufficiently apart to cultivate with horse and plow between them, say five to six feet. Vineyards located on the side of hills ought to be protected by terracing the land against the washing of rain. Beginners in vine-dressing I would advise to consult "The Culture of the Grape, and Wine Making. By Robert Buchanan." This is a valuable treatise on the subject, giving the views of intelligent vinedressers on all matters belonging thereto. Our State, Missouri, is very favorable for the culture of the grapevine. But we must acknowledge that in past seasons, between good crops we had some severe disappointments, depending perhaps not so much on climate and soil as on the kind of grape here in culture-the Catawba. The Catawba is a very good wine grape, from which excellent wine is manufactured, equal in quality and flavor, and comparing favorably with the celebrated Rhine wine. The Catawba vine is a great bearer, but the grapes are apt to rot every year; in wet seasons more, in dry seasons less. The vine-growers at Hermann have begun several years ago to cultivate the Virginia Seedling grape, said to be free from all rot, and is a good bearer. The wine mash from it is of a very dark color, and of good quality, preferred by some persons to the Catawba wine. We will not be found behind our Hermann friends in experimenting, and I have ordered from Messrs. Husmann & Co. fifty dollars' worth of Virginia Seedling roots. Having been, in the fall of 1858, in Chicago, I noticed there with delight and surprise the crops of a small number of the Clinton grapevine, planted on sandy and level ground, and trained to trellises. From the produce of perhaps not one-twentieth part of an acre three hundred and seventy-five bottles of very good wine was made. From another single grape-vine twenty gallons were made. The same vines have been the next season, this last summer, in a like promising condition; but a severe frost in June destroyed the blossoms. The Clinton is a pure native grape-vine, very hardy, and the grapes not subject to mildew or rot. This variety of the grape-vine may be of immense value to the vine-growers of Missouri. It grows, flourishes, and produces so well on the sand flats of Lake Michigan, why may it not do so here on our Missouri river-bottom sand land? Take the highest and driest localities for its cultivation, and we need not have any fear of success. Do not consider the occasional overflowing of the river too seriously; a crop may thereby in perhaps twenty or thirty years once be destroyed, but the vines will not be damaged by it, and will come out next season renovated, and stronger to bear than before. I have engaged several thousand of the Clinton, intending to plant them according to the suggestions here made. THE LEAD REGION OF SOUTHWEST MISSOURIGRANBY. History. The riches and extent of the lead mines of Southwest Missouri (principally situated in Newton and Jasper Counties) render this, as a mining region, justly entitled to the reputation given it by Professor Swallow, State Geologist, that of being "one of the best. lead regions in the world." These mines, as is generally the case, were originally discovered by the aborigines. The Osage Indians at sundry times brought a number of bars of lead to the trading house, at the village of Neosho, which had the appearance of having been recently molded, which led to the inquiry by the whites as to the discovery of the lead. The Indians, for a proper consideration, disclosed to the whites the location of the deposits, and the land was immediately entered by Mr. Sheppard, as the agent of W. S. Moseley, of New Madrid, who with his uncle, George W. Moseley, Esq., had a trading house at Neosho. Though inexperienced in the business, they commenced mining on a limited scale and under many disadvantages in 1849, and smelted at first in what is known as the Drummond Furnace, upon which an improvement had been recently made by Hon. J. P. B. Gratiott, of Washington County, Missouri, which improvement consisted of placing the firehouse at the end, instead of at the side of the furnace. Upon this Drummond furnace about six thousand pigs of lead were smelted, up to 1852, when a Scotch hearth furnace was erected by S. Dunklin, Esq., of Washington County, in connection with the Messrs. Moseley. About sixteen thousand pigs of lead were made at this furnace by the different parties who smelted there; the ore being obtained principally from the Moseley mine, some from Centre Creek, and small quantities from Granby and Spurgeon Prairie. John Fitzgerald & Co. had a blast furnace on Turkey Creek, and the Messrs. Harkelrode one on Centre Creek, in operation about the same time. The last named were in Jasper County, and manufactured considerable quantities of lead. Moseley's furnace is ten miles southwest from Granby. The extensive diggings south from Granby were discovered in 1854 by William Foster, while digging a well for Madame Richardson; previous to this, however, Professor Swallow had discovered lead in the same vicinity. Owing to the want of capital to mine and smelt, and the very poor facilities for transportation, but little systematic mining or smelting was done until 1856, when Messrs. J. B. Dale & Co. and Booth, Ryan & Co. engaged men extensively in smelting, and offered better inducements to miners. The ore then ranged from $17 50 to $20 per one thousand pounds, and lead from six and a quarter to six and a half cents per pound. No rents were required from miners, and they had the full benefit of all the mineral furnished by them. This condition of things existed until June or July, 1857, when the mines covered by section six came into the possession of Messrs. Blow & Kennett, as the lessees of the Pacific Railroad Company, (as hereinafter specified,) since which time these mines have yielded both in quantity and quality an amount of mineral second to none in the country, in proportion to the number of mines opened or miners employed; the business having increased from twenty-two pigs of lead per day to about three hundred, which has for some time past been the daily average product. The complete success of the mines at Granby is attributable to the very liberal course pursued by, and the discreet and judicious management of the present proprietors, Messrs. Blow & Kennett, who, by the investment of a large amount of capital in the introduction of the most approved machinery for mining and smelting, have concentrated almost the entire operations of the Southwest to their great center, on section six, infused new life and energy into all the adjacent country, and increased the population of the town of Granby from a cluster of log cabins to a town of several thousand population, and developed one of the most important mineral regions of this great mineral State. By an act of Congress, the Pacific Railroad Company received in 1852 a grant of land, embracing every alternate section for twelve |