SUMMER MEETING. 143 



until 12 o'clock, for the days were taken up with incessant work. From 

 these I learnt the theory of grafting and bndding. Mr. Teubner had 

 commenced a small nursery, only a few hundred trees, to mostly fill 

 vacancies in his own orchard. I read up on varieties and then tried 

 grafting myself, by candlelight, on a few hundred seedling stocks I 

 found. These succeeded beyond my expectations, nearly every one 

 growing. Then another difficulty arose. The vineyards of Catawba and 

 Isabella, which promised so much when I left, were suffeiing from rot 

 and other diseases, and the Isabella was considered worthless. I found 

 about 50 strong Isabella's in the vineyard. Could not they be changed 

 into something better? The Nortons' Virginia had just been brought 

 into notice, introduced by Dr. Kehr from Virginia, and by Mr. Hein- 

 richs from Cincinnati. The Herbemont, brought from Cincinnati by 

 Mr. Teubner, had produced fine crops. Could not these worthless 

 Isabella be changed by grafting into something better? I consulted 

 Downing and found but one remark, " that vines were sometimes grafted 

 below the ground in the usual way, by heft grafting. It had never 

 been tried by our vintners, but I determined to do so, and succeeded 

 beyond all my expectations. Nearly all of them grew, and as they 

 were strong vines, some of the graft made a growth of 25 feet the 

 first summer, which at once made grape grafting popular when it had 

 not been known or practiced before. 



The splendid fruit produced by the young orchard created a de- 

 sire for trees of similar kinds. I visited the Fair of the State Agri- 

 cultural Society at Boonville in the fall of 1853, where I met and com- 

 peted with the exhibition of fruits by Mr. Julius Mallinkrodt of Au- 

 gusta ; became acquainted with this pioneer nurseryman, and, tyro as 

 I was, carried off second prize on best collection of fruits, and first 

 prize on quinces. Encouraged by this, the lively demand for trees and 

 the good prices obtainable for them, I enlarged the nursery rapidly. 

 I began to correspond with Charles Downing, Dr. Warder, Robt. Buc- 

 hanan and other eminent horticulturists, and the kind encouragement 

 and advice from these veterans of horticulture encouraged the novice 

 to make his first attempt to write for the horticultural press in friend 

 Colman's Valley Farmer, now the Rural World. A love of horticul- 

 ture and its votaries took possession of me, which has accompanied 

 me through life, made every horticulturist seem like a dear brother, 

 and will, as I hope, stay with me to my dying day. 



The nurseries in those days were few and far between, and con- 

 fined to a limited acreage. The Augusta nursery of Mr. J. Mallinkrodt, 

 the Segirson nursery near St. Louis, mine and Mr. Jacob Rommel, Sr., 

 at Hermann, comprised about all. Trade was conducted in a different 



