304 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 



for the garden when planted in soils to which it is adapted, when given 

 good care, properly protected from cold, and the vines restrained from 

 overbearing. 



lona was originated by Dr. C. W. Grant' of lona Island, Westchester 

 County, New York, and the name commemorates the scene of the viticul- 

 tural labors of one of the founders of American viticulture. Grant states 

 that lona is from seed of Diana planted in 1855, the plant from which 

 fruited for the first time four years later. Cay wood, however, says that 

 Grant informed him that it was found growing as a chance seedling under 

 a Catawba vine. Since Diana is a seedling of Catawba there is too little 

 difference in the character of the older varieties to enable one to tell from 

 which lona came. This variety ^ was awarded the Greeley prize of $100, 

 offered by Horace Greeley during the Civil War for a grape adapted to 

 general cultivation in the Eastern and Middle States. The requirements 

 which a variety had to possess to secure this prize were certainly sufficiently 

 high; it was asked that the vine should be as hardy, healthy and vigorous 

 as the strongest American vine and the fruit of a quality equal to the best 

 European. Such a grape would be a boon to European as well as to Ameri- 

 can grape-growers. Though the prize went to lona it must not be thought 

 that it meets these requirements. 



lona was introduced by the originator in 1864. It was overpraised, 

 extensively advertised, and for some time the prices of vines were kept at 



'Dr. C. W. Grant was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1810. Early in life he became a 

 Doctor of Medicine but soon became dissatisfied with that profession as it was then practiced, and 

 entered dentistry. He settled in Newburgh, New York, where he built up a very large dental 

 practice. Dr. Grant was an enthusiastic amateur horticulturist and numbered among his friends 

 such men of national note as A. J. and Charles Downing, Horace Greeley, Henry Ward Beecher, W- 

 C. Bryant, Donald G. Mitchell and others like these who were interested in rural pursuits. He 

 bought lona Island in the Hudson River and planted thereon a commercial vineyard. On the death 

 of his wife in 1856 he gave up his dental practice and took up his residence on lona Island. Here 

 for twelve years he grew grapes and conducted a grape nursery. Unfortunately Dr. Grant's business 

 experience was not such as to enable him to make a success of a cominercial nursery. In 1868 he 

 retired from active pursuits and returned to his old home at Litchfield, where he died in 1881. Dr. 

 Grant's chief interest to grape-growers lies in the fact that he was the originator of lona and Israella 

 and the introducer of Anna and Eumelan. He was one of the first and a most ardent grape-breeder, 

 working especially toward improving the quality of commercial varieties of grapes. 



' On account of criticisms of the justice of the award. Grant returned the prize to be competed 

 for a second time. At the second trial it went to Concord on vine characters. 



