ter success. After a few years a
few bottles of wine were made from it, and found to be very good. But
at this time it almost received its death-blow, by a very unfavorable
letter from Mr. LONGWORTH, who had been asked his opinion of it, and
pronounced it worthless. Of course, with the majority, the fiat of Mr.
LONGWORTH, the father of American grape-culture, was conclusive
evidence, and they abandoned it. Not all, however; a few persevered,
among them Messrs. JACOB ROMMEL, POESCHEL, LANGENDOERFER, GREIN, and
myself. We thought Mr. LONGWORTH was human, and might be mistaken; and
trusted as much to the evidence of our senses as to his verdict,
therefore increased it as fast as we could, and the sequel proved that
we were right. After a few years more wine was made from it in larger
quantities, found to be much better than the first imperfect samples;
and now that despised and condemned grape is _the_ great variety for
red wine, equal, if not superior to, the best Burgundy and Port; a wine
of which good judges, heavy importers of the best European wines too,
will tell you that it has not its equal among all the foreign red
wines; which has already saved the lives of thousands of suffering
children, men, and women, and therefore one of the greatest blessings
an all-merciful God has ever bestowed upon suffering humanity. This
despised grape is now the rage, and 500,000 of the plants could have
been sold from this place alone the last fall, if they could have been
obtained. Need I name it? it is the Norton's Virginia. Truly, "great
oaks from little acorns grow!" and I boldly prophecy to-day that the
time is not far distant when thousands upon thousands of our hillsides
will be covered with its luxuriant foliage, and its purple juice become
one of the exports to Europe; provided, always, that we do not grow so
fond of it as to drink it all. I think that this is pre-eminently a
Missouri grape. Here it seems to have found the soil in which it
flourishes best. I have seen it in Ohio, but it does not look there as
if it was the same grape. And why should it? They drove it from them
and discarded it in its youth; we fostered it, and do you not think,
dear reader, there sometimes is gratitude in plants as well as in men?
Other States may plant it and succeed with it, too, to a certain
extent, but it will cling with the truest devotion to those localities
where it was cared for in its youth. Have we not also found, during the
late wa