THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 4^ 



American vines is well worth quoting in full as showing the status of the 

 species known to Antill just previous to the Revolutionary War:' 



" The reason for my being silent about vines that are natives of America, 

 is, that I know but little of them, having but just entered upon a trial of 

 them, when my verv ill state of health forbade me to proceed: From what 

 little observation I have been able to make, I look upon them to be much 

 more untractable than those of Europe, they will undergo a hard struggle 

 indeed, before they will submit to a low and humble state, a state of abject 

 slavery. They are very hardy and will stand a frame, for they brave the 

 severest storms and winter blasts, they shrink not at snow, ice, hail or rain; 

 the wine they will make, I imagine from the austerity of their taste, will be 

 strong and masculine. 



"The Fox-Grape, whose berries are large and round, is divided into three 

 sorts, the white, the dark red and the black; the berries grow but thin upon 

 the bunches, which are plain without shoulders. They delight most in a 

 rich sandy lome, here they grow very large and the berries are sweetest, but 

 they will grow in any grounds, wet or dry; those that grow on high dry 

 grounds generally become white, and the colour alters to a dark red or 

 black, according to the lowness and wetness of the ground; the situation I 

 think must greatly affect the Wine, in strength, goodness and colour; the 

 berries are generally ripe the beginning of September, and when fully ripe 

 they soon fall away; thus much I have observed as they grow wild. What 

 alteration they may undergo, or how much they may be improved by proper 

 soils and due cultivation I cannot say. 



" There is a small black Grape, a size bigger than the winter Grape, that 

 is ripe in September; it is pleasant to eat, and makes a very pretty Wine, 

 which I have drank of, it was four years old, and seemed to be the better 

 for its age; the colour was amber, owing to the want of knowing how to 

 extract the tincture; this Grape is seldom to be found; theie is a Vine of 

 them near John Taylor, Esq; at Middletown, Monmouth, and there are 

 some of them in Mr. Livingston's Vineyard at Piscataqua in New- Jersey. 

 I think they are well worth propagating. 



" The frost or winter Grape is known to every body, both the bunches 



^Transactions American Philosophical Society, 1:191-193. 1769-71. 



