WINTER MEETING. 283 



Au;?u8t and September, a long dry fall season, and a less change of 

 temperature than 59'' Fahr. in 24 hours at anytime of the year : the 

 s )il is dry, porous and self-draining, containing different inexhaustible 

 mineral plant foods requisite for the production of rich and delicious 

 fruits and possessing the erabadimeat of all the elements for the pro- 

 duction of perfect grapes and wines. 



I have lived here in the Ozarks for 30 years and our .Estivalis 

 vines never failed as yet; therefore, let the grape-grower follow and 

 assist natare, it is his beat guide, but whenever he undertakes to lead 

 or force nature it will drop him in the mire with inevitable loss. 



If he can not be otherwise persuaded, let him cut off the timber 

 on a patch of ground oq the hill where there is not even a visible wild 

 grape-vine growing, leaving it in that condition; in a few years time he 

 will find a mass of wild ^Estivalis grapevines growing on it, and if 

 there is some living water near by he will also find Riparia mixed with 

 it, but no Labrusca; should he desire to be convinced of these facts 

 without waiting for years, let him examine some neglected corners in 

 some of the fields reaching up the hillside, as well as the fence rows, 

 and he will find the same wild vines there which will clearly indicate 

 to him which lamily of grape-vines to plant on the Ozarks. 



The accepted maxim in grape culture is, plant only of those species 

 of grape-vines the wild ones of which grow in the woods of the respec 

 tive localities, in order to be successful ; the grape-vine is a fish out of 

 water wherever and whenever planted outside of its native soil. 



The Ozarks being the home of the J^stivalis and Eiparia, plant 

 none but them ; they are the healthiest, hardiest and best grape-vines 

 we have. 



Wm. Saunders, Supt. Experimental Station U. S. Dept. of Agri- 

 culture, Washington, D. 0., commenting on the ^stivalis says : " This 

 species is pre-eminently the wine grape of the South Atlantic states 

 and of the lower Mississippi Valley and Texas, the berries are desti- 

 tute of pulp, the juice contains a larger per centage of sugar than any 

 other improved American species, the foliage is not so liable to disease 

 as that of Labrusca, and in the berries rot is also lesp prevailing; in 

 some varieties of this class, as Norton's Virginia and Cynthiana, it is 

 comparatively unknown. 



"The most genial home of those species is the country of the Ozark 

 hills in Missouri, South Kansas, Arkansas, Texas and the Indian Ter- 

 ritory, probably also the mountain slopes of Virginia, North Carolina 

 and Tennessee, and these must be looked upon as the grape producing 

 regions of this continent, east of the Rocky Mountains for a certain 

 class of fine wines. — Bushberg Grape Manual." 



