1222 THE FRUIT INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK STATE 



Pippins, in contrast to the time before when we knew so little about 

 the nature of the diseases and deficiencies that follow our crops. 

 The sickness of these Old World grapes we now know to have been 

 chiefly of two kinds the phylloxera on the roots and the mildew 

 and rot on the leaves and fruit. These diseases were unknown in 

 the old countries whence came the vine. They are present on the 

 wild vines of our woods and shores ; yet long ago nature struck the 

 balance, and they do not make much devastating headway against 

 these native stocks with which the contest has been waged in the 

 long and termless processes of time, but they attacked the new- 

 comers with violence. 



THE ADVENT AND EVOLUTION OF THE TABLE GRAPE 



Among all the number of grapes that were tried by many 

 patient and faithful experimenters, one finally persisted and gave 

 promise. This was in the collections of the gifted Peter Legaux, 

 at Philadelphia, a man of rare qualities and enthusiasm, but who 

 died broken-spirited because of the failure of his vine-growing 

 enterprise. A sad and yet a prophetic history will some day be 

 written of the men who failed and were humiliated in the attempt 

 to grow the vine in this western world. 



This one grape that best persisted was supposed to have come 

 from the region of the Cape of Good Hope, but in reality it was 

 an offshoot of the wild native fox grape. How it came or why, 

 we do not know, but it spread gradually ; after a time the Catawba 

 found its way into cultivation from the back lands of the Caro- 

 linas; the Isabella came, and American grape growing began on 

 a new basis. By the middle of the last century these American 

 grapes had well established themselves in parts of New York State, 

 but new methods had to be developed, markets were to be found, 

 diseases and difficulties with the improved varieties had to be over- 

 come. Men still gave their lives to the work of grape development, 

 but in a new way men like E. S. Rogers, George Haskell, 

 Jacob Moore, T. V. Munson, and others. Xew methods of training 

 must be devised, and this, for its fulfillment, awaited the per- 

 fecting of means of manufacturing trellis wire. In 'California the 

 Old World wine grape is grown to. perfection, but in this eastern 

 region we build our enterprise on the ameliorated offspring of 

 the grapes that grew wild in the country when it was discovered. 



