THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 83 



are deflected to these directions very largely. In the summer, both days 

 and nights are cooler and the climate more equable near the lakes. These 

 modifications of climate are all favorable to grape-growing. 



The first grapes grown in this district, so far as records show, were 

 set by the Rev. William Bostwick at Hammondsport in 1830. The vari- 

 eties were Isabella and Catawba and these he succeeded in raising to per- 

 fection. From this time onward scattering vines were planted in gardens 

 about the three lakes. About 1836 Mr. J. W. Prentiss, originator of the 

 Prentiss grape, planted a small vinej-ard at Pulteney from which consid- 

 erable fruit was sent to market from time to time and the vineyard was 

 constantly enlarged. In 1853 a commercial vineyard was set out by 

 Andrew Reisinger, a German vine-dresser, consisting of two acres of Isa- 

 bella and Catawba at Harmonyville in the town of Pulteney. Reisinger 

 trained, primed and tilled his vines, operations unheard of before in the 

 district, and was rewarded with crops and profits which stimulated grape 

 culture in his and nearby neighborhoods. 



In 1855 the Hon. Jacob Larrowe and Mr. Orlando Shephard planted 

 small vineyards of Isabella and Catawba in Pleasant Valley near Ham- 

 mondsport and were so successful that in 1858 their vineyards were greatly 

 increased and others in the valley embarked in the business of vine-culture. 

 Viticulture was now fairly started and the industry grew apace from 1858 

 onward. In i860 two hundred acres of grapes were set in Pleasant Valley 

 alone and elsewhere on Keuka Lake large plantings were made. Grapes 

 brought from fifteen to thirty cents per pound and a bearing vineyard at 

 this time was as good as a gold mine. 



Plantings were begun in the Yates Cotmty portion of the Keuka 

 district in 1855 when Mr. W. W. Shirland set a small vineyard of Isabella 

 in Benton township. 



There seem to be no records as to the first plantings about Seneca 

 and Canandaigua Lakes but all available information indicates that plant- 

 ings about these two lakes came in the spreading of the industry from 

 Keuka Lake. E. A. McKay of Naples seems to have had a vineyard of 

 some extent as early as 1S48 from which he sold fruit. There must have 

 been vineyards of considerable size about Avon in Livingston County in 

 the early fifties; for Larrowe, Shephard and others obtained cuttings at 



