The Employments of Women: A Cyclopædia of Woman's WorkPenny, Virginia
General
The Employments of Women: A Cyclopædia of Woman's Work
Penny, Virginia
Women -- Employment
=134. Wine Manufacturers and Grape Growers.= Many persons are becoming
interested in the culture of the grape; and some are spending time and
money in experimenting. Longworth of Cincinnati has realized a fortune
from his operations. Belle Britain says: "In Longworth's cellars are
700,000 bottles of wine. Mr. L. informed her (?) that we have in this
country at least 5,000 varieties of the grape, and his vineyards yield
from 600 to 700 gallons to the acre." The color of wine depends on the
color of the grapes from which it is made. In several of the States,
Ohio, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and Alabama, vineyards are flourishing,
and many new ones are being planted out. The variety of soil and surface
in our country is such that there is every probability of success. As
yet, only two kinds have been much grown. No doubt a large number of
women will, in the course of a few years, be employed in the cultivation
of the vine and the manufacture of wine. One can soon learn, with a few
instructions in each season, the proper culture of the vine. A great
deal of the work in the vineyards of France and Switzerland is done by
women. Women do better that men, because their fingers are smaller and
more nimble. The want of intelligent culture has been the greatest
barrier in the introduction of graperies into our country; but such is
the number of foreigners now among us that have a practical knowledge of
the business, we need fear no want of workmen. Many, too, have not been
willing to invest capital in an uncertain enterprise. Wine manufacturers
in Orange county, N. Y., write: "We have not employed women to any great
extent in our business. There are some branches of the business in which
women might be suitably and profitably employed, where those branches
are extensively carried on. The bottling process, including cleaning of
bottles, filling, putting on foil, labels, &c., could be done by women
as well as men. Women could pick the grapes, and cull out the green and
poor berries, and prepare them for the press. They are employed for this
purpose in Europe. The reasons why we have not employed women in these
branches are, we bottle not more than one sixth of our wine; we
manufacture principally for church communion and medicinal purposes, and
the principal demand for those purposes is by the gallon--consequently
we send it out mostly in casks. (Some wine growers bottle all.) The men,
whom we necessarily employ by the year or month in the cultivation of
the ground, vines, &c., are of course employed in the season of the
vintage, bottling, &c.; and in hurried times, such as the time of
picking the grapes, we get such additional help as is easiest obtained,
generally boys and girls, with sometimes women. Women are in such demand
here for household labor, that, unless sought for at the proper time,
March and the 1st of April, and hired for the year, it would be almost
impossible to obtain them. The wages generally paid are from $5 to $7
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