THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 47 



Vitis vinifera in America but did not benefit the new viticulture of the 

 country greatly.' His only contribution of note was one made in spite 

 of himself, namely the introduction of the Alexander, which he incorrectly 

 called Cape, an American grape, as a commercial variety, Legaux having 

 first brought it prominently to notice. Dufour would never admit that 

 this variety, the only one to succeed in his vineyards in Kentucky and 

 Indiana, was a native grape and says of it in the preface of his book: " I 

 will also trv to save the character of our Cape grapes from being made 

 merely wild grapes, because some are now found in the woods; and, to 

 put any one in the way to distinguish wild from tame grapes, I will give the 

 description of the botanical characters of the blossom of both sorts." In 

 his text he fulfills the promise in the preface and devotes some pages to 

 " save the character of our Cape grapes." 



Dufour's visit of inspection of the vineyards of the country in 1 799 has 

 been noted in discussing the Old World grape. In this trip only foreign 

 grapes interested him and he mentioned the wild species but to condemn 

 them for cultivation. In his book published twenty-seven years later he 

 shows no change of opinion and though at this time there were a number 

 of meritorious native sorts he describes only European varieties. Dufour 

 was a true foreigner and could find little of value in the New World that 

 did not come from the Old World. 



Rafinesque, writing in 1830, in his American Manual of the Grape Vines, 

 gives an account of forty-one species of native grapes. Unfortunately his 

 " species " are founded upon the slightest differences in vine or fruit and 

 his observations were so poorly made that his botanical studies of the grape 

 are now wholly discredited by botanists. He gives an account of the 

 acreage in vineyards existing in the United States in 1825 and 1830. This 

 is the earliest estimate of the vineyard acreage of the country and is there- 

 fore a landmark in American viticulture. It is as follov.-s:" "In 1825 I 

 collected an account of our principal vineyards and nurseries of vines. 

 They were then only 60 of i to 20 acres each, altogether 600 acres. While 



' For a full account of Dufour's attempts to grow European grapes see Bailey's Evolution of O.tr 

 Native Fruits, pp. 21-42. 



^ Rafinesque has also preserved for us the names of many of the vine-growers of his time. The 

 following is his list : 



