76 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 



ward off autumn frosts. Each of these influences is highly favorable to 

 the growth of the grape. The escarpment on the southeastern boundary 

 of the belt has a most decided influence on the climate chiefly because it 

 confines the influence of the lake to a narrow belt. When the escarpment 

 becomes low, as at the two extremities of the belt, grape-growing ceases 

 to be profitable. When the distance between the lake and the escarpment 

 is great, the climatic conditions are not so favorable. 



The air currents and rainfall of the region are especially favorable. 

 The in-shore breeze of the day and the oft'-shore breeze at night keep the 

 air in constant motion, thus preventing frosts in .spring and autumn, and 

 probably cause in part the great degree of immunity to black-rot and 

 mildew. Unfortunately, data to determine accurately the rainfall of the 

 district cannot be had but such as have been taken indicate that the rain- 

 fall is comparatively light for the maturing months of August, September 

 and October and not heavy for the three preceding growing months. 

 Residents of the grape belt claim that most of the heavy showers pass 

 over the hills or down the lake. The whole region is proverbially free 

 from heavv dews. Rain and dew are favorable to black-rot and other 

 fungi and the lack of them still further accounts for the immunity to 

 these pests in the region. 



The history of the rise of grape-growing in Chautauqua County forms 

 an interesting chapter in the economic development of New York. The 

 first vines in the Chautauqua district were planted by Elijah Fay' in 1818, 

 near the present town of Brocton. These were wild vines of Vitis labrusca 

 from Deacon Fay's boyhood home in New England. The vines grew 

 luxuriantly but the fruit was not satisfactory and in 1822 this worthy 

 pioneer obtained at great trouble roots of Miller's Burgundy, Sweetwater 



' Elijah Fay was born in Southborough, Massachusetts, in 1781. He moved to Brocton, Chau- 

 tauqua County, New York, in the fall of 1 8 1 1 . The early history of not only the viticulture but of 

 the horticulture of the Chautauqua region is interwritten with that of the Fay family. Elijah Fay's 

 children and grandchildren inherited a love of horticulture from their ancestor and several of them, 

 as mentioned in the te.xt, have been noted for their horticultural work in this region. Lincoln Fay, 

 a nephew of Elijah Fay, one of the first men to grow and sell grape vines in the region, originated 

 the Fay currant which was afterwards introduced by him and his son Elijah H. Fay. Of the Fay 

 family, noted in the annals of grape-growing in this region, only G. E. Ryckman and L. R. Ryckman, 

 grandchild and great-grandchild of Elijah Fay, are now living. Elijah Fay lived to the ripe age of 

 eighty, dying in 1S60. His memory should be long cherished as one of the founders of the viticulture 

 of New York. 



