ut, then we shall have made a decided
and important advance.

The American people are rather disposed to be self-reliant, and we may,
therefore, safely predict that, when we take hold, in real earnest, of
the business of grape culture, either under glass or in the open air, we
shall do it with our customary determination and energy, and that
success will just as surely follow as it has in other cases where
imported ideas have been improved upon and superseded. We have shown, we
think, in other fields of enterprise, that we may venture to rely upon
native-born talent, ingenuity and industry, to work out this problem
also, and that, by a practical demonstration, we shall, gradually and
surely, reach a point of success beyond what has been attained with all
the advantages of foreign aid. And this success will be equalled by the
simplicity of its methods. Grape-growing in this country is yet in its
infancy, and as respects the varieties best adapted to our soil and
climate, essentially experimental. As yet it has attracted any
considerable attention only of the more intelligent and far-seeing
portion of our population, but it is surely beginning to command the
regard and study of the larger number of our cultivators, and the
inevitable result will be that, in a few years, it must be an important
source of our country's wealth.

The great obstacles among us to grape-growing under glass, especially to
persons of moderate or limited means, are the first cost of building,
planting, &c., and the necessity of regular and systematic care and
attention to the vines which must be given, during a short season
however, in order to insure success. To those who are influenced by the
consideration of such obstacles as these, it may be said that, even in
these times of high prices for all descriptions of labor and
material--if we except, perhaps, brain-work and intellectual
material--complete and substantial grape-houses can be erected at
moderate cost, and with proper management they can be made a source of
income and profit. As to the care and attention required, and the
regularity of the periods at which they must be bestowed, at the risk of
losing the crop, it can be easily demonstrated that these attentions and
duties can be perfectly comprehended and understood by several members
of the family, by the older children, and intelligent servants, so as to
be overseen and performed by one or another in the absence of the person
to whom