420 



THE VINEYARDS OF OHIO. 



wild crabs or wild peaches. Its culture and 

 enjoyment, in the earliest ages of the world, 

 were considered synonymous with the pros- 

 perity and happiness of man : " and they 

 shall build houses and inhabit them, and they 

 shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of 

 ihem." 



Though the world has grown old, the pa- 

 ternal love of vineyards has not in the least 

 diminished in the heart of man. We are 

 just as busy, at least in this part of the new 

 world, with planting vineyards as were Noah 

 and his immediate descendants ; and I may, 

 therefore, I trust, be pardoned for giving 

 some detail of the early history of this 

 branch of agriculture in the valley of the 

 Ohio. 



If we take a retrospective glance of fifty 

 or sixty years — a period the scenes of which 

 are perfectly within the recollection of some 

 yet on the active stage of life — when the 

 unexplored wilds of the Ohio — the now in- 

 deed beautiful Ohio — were penetrated by a 

 few hardy adventurers, seeking to better 

 their condition, with but little to cheer them 

 in their dreary course, but encountering, at 

 every step, the shrieks of wild beasts, and 

 their but little less ferocious companion, the 

 Red Man, we shall have some data from 

 which to start. The great abundance of 

 the wild grape, found indigenous in the for- 

 est, and the luxuriancy of their growth, 

 towering and spreading over the tops of the 

 tallest trees, abundantly loaded with fruit, 

 justifies the idea that the better and finer 

 sorts would flourish here also. How or from 

 whence these were to be obtained, or what 

 sorts would prove adapted to the soil and 

 climate, would remain a matter of slow in- 

 quiry and experiment. This must, of ne- 

 cessity, mainly depend on emigrants, in af- 

 ter time, from vine-growing districts, without 

 a knowledge of the soil and climate, bring- 

 ing with them old and valued sorts, and 



applying their old and accustomed modes 

 of cultivation. These emigrants brought 

 with them a strong natural prejudice against 

 native sorts, and a different mode of treat- 

 ment. Before success could attend them, 

 old prejudices and predilections must be 

 abandoned, and a new practice, and native 

 sorts sought to occupy the place of old friends 

 unsuited to their new locations. These were 

 hard struggles, which required time to bring 

 to a successful issue. 



Early attention was drawn to the subject, 

 and efforts were attended with more or less 

 success. None of these were, however, of 

 much importance, until about the year 1796 

 or 7, when John James Dufour, a zealous 

 Swiss, came to Lexington, Ky. Having 

 previously looked up all the vine cultivators 

 east and west, the smallest of them not es- 

 caping his notice. He succeeded in form- 

 ing a joint stock company, for the purpose 

 of extensive operations. The first difficulty 

 presenting itself, was a want of plants. 

 These were at much cost, collected partly 

 about Philadelphia, New- York and Balti- 

 more, with some he had brought from Swit- 

 zerland, to the amount in all, of thirty-five 

 sorts, all foreign varieties. Most of these 

 were brought to fruiting, and some speci- 

 mens of wine were produced. '• This was 

 drank by the stock-holders," 1 presume with 

 much satisfaction. Unfortunately, howev- 

 er, these vines soon after perished with the 

 mildew and other diseases to which the Eu- 

 ropean sorts were found subject, except a 

 ievf stocks of two sorts, the Madeira and 

 Cape. This was so discouraging, that af- 

 ter a few years efforts to increase the stock 

 of these, the former, in the mean time, shar- 

 ing the fate of the rest, the project was 

 abandoned, and the little band dispersed. 

 Afterwards joining themselves to a small 

 colony of their countrymen, who had com- 

 menced a settlement on the banks of the 



