292 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



nated in Ohio, the fruit of which was sent me some three years ago by Mr. 

 Walter. He called it the Garfield plum. It belongs to the species of wild 

 plum, but it kept in my drawer in my office ; I think he sent it some time 

 in November, and it was perfectly good in the month of December. It 

 struck me that if the plum was hardy and productive, it had a value, and I 

 thought that some of our Ohio men ought to know something about it, 

 probably, because it is a very rare thing to get a plum that has those keep- 

 ing qualities. It came from Wilmington, Ohio. It is a very beautiful- 

 looking plum in appearance, and apparently very good, but he requested 

 me to note its keeping qualities. I M-anted to say, it kept till December, 

 and there is a demand for anything like a plum at that season of the year. 

 If that plum is productive and hardy, with those keeping qualities, it 

 should become a favorite. 



Mr Plumb of Wisconsin: In regard to Kelsey's Japan, while visiting 

 southern Missouri, I called on the president of a local society there, and 

 asked whether it was hardy in that latitude. He took me to a tree where 

 the Kelsey was grafted on some variety of hardy native plum. " There," 

 he said, " now I think that, grafted on one of our extremely hardy plums, 

 it is going to be a success here." I think this matter of adaptation is a 

 very important feature, and that good results can be obtained if varieties 

 like the Kelsey are grafted upon some hardy variety, adapted in its hardi- 

 ness at least to a latitude perhaps one or two degrees further north. 



President: We will be glad to hear from Mr. Meissner on the grape in 

 Missouri. 



THE GRAPE INDUSTRY IN MISSOURI. 



That you have requested me to say a few words about the grape interest jn Missouri, 

 I suppose, is only due to the fact that Missouri grapes and Missouri wines have a good 

 name and well established reputation throughout the country, and though, perhaps, 

 the grape industry of our state is not as extensive as it is in some other sections, in 

 the quality of our products, especially our wines, we stand second to no other, neither 

 the Golden state on the Pacific nor the Empire and Buckeye states in the east. 



It is now some forty or fifty years ago that grape culture on any extensive scale was 

 first attempted in Missouri by the German settlers on the banks of the Mississippi and 

 Missouri rivers. The success which crowned the first attempts of these pioneers, 

 especially around the little town of Herman, quickly encouraged others to follow, and 

 grape culture soon assumed quite an important role in the industries of our state. At 

 first the old Catawba and Isabella, together with a small proportion of Norton's Virginia 

 supplied the bulk of the vines planted here, until, with the introduction of the Concord, 

 a new impetus was given to grape culture, and vmeyards sprang up all over the state. 

 In those days the dreaded grape diseases (rot and mildew) were almost unknown, and 

 grape culture seemed not only to be one of the most profitable, but also one of the 

 safest and most reliable pursuits. For some years this proved really the case, but alas! 

 that it did not continue so. By the advent of black rot and mildew, grape-culture in 

 Missouri, in common with grape-culture throughout the largest portion of our country, 

 received a severe check. The old Isabella and Catawba were the first to fail, and even 

 the Concord, after a few years, proved unreliable over a great extent of territory, and 

 many vineyardists, who had staked all their hopes, their labor, and expense on these 

 varieties, became discouraged, and abandoned their vineyards and gave them over to 

 other cultivators. Not so. however, those who were fortunate enough to have jjlanted 

 Norton's Virginia, or other varieties less subject to the attacks of fungoid diseases. 

 Their vineyards continued to flourish and yield remunerative returns. More attention 

 was necessarily given to such varieties as Cynthiana, Ives, "and Perkins. New varieties, 

 originated in Missouri, were introduced, notable among them the Elvira, Missouri, 

 Reisling, Etta, and Montefiore, which succeed well, and have given new courage to 

 many of our grape-growers. Some of the varieties named may not be what we would 

 call first-class table grapes, but they are reasonably reliable, produce good crops, and 

 their fruit finds ready disposal in the markets for canning, cooking, or preserving, or 

 through the presses of the wine-cellars. 



