292 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



must show them that our American native grape has not only gener- 

 ously come to the rescue of the old " Vitis Vinifera" in Europe, and by 

 furnishing it with a vigorous phylloxera-proof root, has given it a re- 

 newed lease of life in those countries, where otherwise it would have 

 been doomed to annihilation, but that is also making its way into those 

 foreign countries — where grape culture is as yet a comparatively new 

 industry, and where it enters into successful competition with the grapes 

 of the old world. 



If in Europe the purpose served by our grape is less in the direct 

 production of its fruit, and more in the means of furnishing a healthy 

 root to its delicate European sister, this can be easily accounted for by 

 the fact the Vitis Vinifera has been cultivated there for thousands of 

 years, and consequently is cherished by the people, who will not so 

 readily change their inherited taste for its fruit and its w^ine. 



But for an American taste, some " connoisseur " might perhaps say 

 for an ''uneducated taste," the spicy, fruity, rich flavor of a good Ameri- 

 can grape will generally possess more charm than the more delicate fla- 

 vor of Vitis Vinifera, which some would consider rather insipid. '' Dc 

 gustibiis non est disputandnm. " 



The fact remains, however, that even in this direction great im- 

 provements have and are being made, and we have now already Ameri- 

 can grapes and American wines, which need not fear to enter the lists 

 with those of any foreign country. The greatest drawbacks to Ameri- 

 can grape culture hitherto have been the dreaded fungoid diseases of 



GRAPE MILDEW AND GRAPE ROT. 



They have prevented the successful and profitable cultivation of 

 our choicest table varieties throughout a large section of our country, a 

 section where the longer and warmer summers are more favorable to 

 just such varieties, which do not come to their full perfection in the more 

 northern grape regions, which are favored otherwise by their compara- 

 tive freedom from those fungoid pests. 



But baneful and discouraging as these diseases have been, the 

 question of successfully overcoming them bids fair to find its solution. 

 The appearance in Europe and notably in France, where grape culture 

 forms one of the vital national interests, has caused them to be studied 

 and investigated in all their details, in order to discover the means to 

 combat them, and with apparent success. If the government and scien- 

 tists of France have been the first to obtain results in this direction, 

 our own Department or Agriculture, under the direction of our present 



