114 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



what it came, and the capabilities of variation and adaptability of the 

 material in hand. 



You will not expect me to treat the subject in an unlimited sense. That 

 would take a large book and include the world. I shall confine myself to 

 the northern part of the United States, if not exclusively to Michigan, as 

 most interesting and profitable to my audience, but I shall take occasion to 

 lift the curtain a moment upon the stage of other sections, as the products 

 of such are bound to have some bearing upon your region in the matter of 

 marketing. 



I imagine I see many of you smile at my presumption — a Texan trying 

 to tell Michigan horticulturists how to progress in grape-growing! 



From what I saw last June in the test vineyards of your worthy presi- 

 dent, I am sure he can tell you far better than I. There is Mr. Woodruff 

 of Ann Arbor, and many others in your midst, who have been carefully 

 studying how, and trying, to progress in this matter; and, since I come to 

 think of it, I fear I have made a great mistake by not trying to tell how we 

 are progressing in Texas, instead. 



But your president has most courteously invited me to send you a paper 

 on grapes, and, as I don't expect most of you to move to Texas to take 

 advantage of our progress, but that you wish to have an outside view of 

 your work, I shall stick to my text, and thank you for any critical smiles,, 

 or remarks either, that my paper may draw. 



SYNOPSIS OF AMERICAN SPECIES. 



In the first place, let me present a synopsis of all the grape species of 

 North America, including the Vinifera and some other old-world species 

 for comparison. Then we shall see what of these are native of Michigan 

 or near-by regions, and what ones enter into the varieties in cultivation in 

 your vineyards; also what others can endure your climate and promise to 

 enrich your list of varieties. Then, I think, you will be enabled to better 

 appreciate in what direction you may look for progress in viticulture in 

 your lovely lake regions. 



You will perceive that I do not think much further progress will be 

 made, so far as modes of training and cultivation of varieties now in exist- 

 ence is concerned, above what your best vine-growers have reached. The 

 progress chiefly must lie in the development of new types of grape, which 

 will give greater product, finer size and color; and, above all, purer, finer 

 quality. How much does the best grape you grow in marketable quanti- 

 ties fall short in appearance and quality of the best Vinifera varieties, the 

 E-ose of Peru, Calabrian, Faher Zagos, Muscat of Alexandria, Black Ham- 

 burg, etc. ! This difference, at least, is the measure of progress allotted to 

 you, or there is no truth in the claims of evolution. That evolution may 

 be brought about speedily by the most intelligent experimentation, or it 

 may be delayed thousands of years, or forever, if the result is left to the 

 "chance seedling in an old fence-row" method. Some would-be origina- 

 tors or discoverers appear to regard with a sacred reverence these chance 

 improvements, while they scorn intelligent effort to produce new and 

 better kinds, as akin to impiety. Nature has taught us that out of the 

 original protoplasmic algae of primeval times, millions of years gone by, 

 have come gradually the myriad forms of life, flower, and fruit of our 



