STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 145 



not plant any more. Yet I do not wish to influence others, who have 

 different lands. I give you my experience of nineteen years. These 

 years should teach something for the general good; and could I begin 

 these years again, with my present knowledge, it would be worth 

 several hundred thousand dollars to me. The present outlook for 

 the wine and grape interest is very bright, brighter than at any other 

 period of California's history. Our wines are being recognized as 

 equal to the favored pure productions of any country, and we have a 

 country where much of the land is better adapted to grapes than any 

 other purpose, with a ncAV and virgin soil to begin with; whereas 

 France and Spain, and even Germany, are on the decline in produc- 

 tion, through the greatest of all pests, the phylloxera, which threatens 

 to exterminate the whole industry, while we are getting ready to take 

 their places. Right here I would most urgently caution all parties 

 from importing grape cuttings from Sonoma or Napa, for the disease 

 is there; and if introduced here, it would be the greatest calamity 

 that could befall this industry. There is a belief by many that the 

 phylloxera can only exist where the soil has been exhausted of some 

 necessary element of fertility to the grape. They find tliat all reliefs 

 so far have been some substance wdiich is a fertilizer to the vine. The 

 special manure of the grapevine is potash, and this is abundant in 

 all our lands in Los Angeles County. We have only got to look at 

 many of our low lands, where it has been washed from the uplands, 

 to see that there is a superabundance of alkali. 



I will now give you a description of some few varieties of grapes 

 wdiich I have grown for some years, and which have special adapt- 

 abilities for special kinds of wine, all being heavy producers. They 

 will, too, bear younger than the Mission, and ripening early, they 

 lengthen out the season for wine making, which is an item of much 

 importance in itself. 



BLAUE ELBA. 



Bunches medium length and size, shouldered, and about as com- 

 pact as the Mission; berries round, inclined in some specimens to 

 oval; skin thin, dark purple, with lieavy bloom; juice sub-acid and 

 pleasant; and a piquant-flavored table grape. 



It is a vigorous grower, and the youiig wood has a very clean, pleas- 

 ing, red look, which distinguishes it even at a distance. It is a 

 regular and heavy bearer, free from all diseases, and standing 

 drouth remarkably well. It makes a white wine of some body, 

 perhaps in that respect similar to the Reisling, but carries too much 

 tartar, and is much like the celebrated Hock "Liebfrauenmilch" of 

 the Germans. It is a white wine of the highest bouquet and qual- 

 ity, and is admired and is a favorite with every white wine drinker. 

 It is pronounced the equal, by all German connoisseurs, of the better 

 qualities of Rhine wine; and it is believed by many of these that, 

 if shipped to Germany, it would command a sufficient price to pay 

 for producing and shipping. It will, too, make a brandy of the high- 

 est bouquet. 



This gra]^e was introduced by Jacob Keller (now dead), of Ana- 

 heim, who brought it from Germany. He gave me a small lot of 

 cuttings, which, from year to year, I increased, until now it is the 

 leading variety in my vineyard. It has, too, been tried for some 

 years in my neighborhood, and all wlio have planted it join in its 

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