1224 THE FRUIT INDUSTRY ix XEW YORK STATE 



The sufficient introduction to cultivation of the ("ape grape, 

 known also as the Alexander, was due very largely to the heroic 

 efforts of the Kentucky Vineyard Society, under the leadership of 

 John James Dufour. As a lad in Switzerland he had conceived 

 the idea that America offered a promising field in which to engage 

 in wine-making with profit. The project of a great vine commune 

 was talked over in the family circle in the old land, and in March, 

 1796, Dufour set off for the Xew World. For his passage he paid 

 $50 and baggage charges. On the brig " Sally " he landed in 

 Philadelphia, August 12, having sailed June 10. For two or 

 three years he visited all the leading vineyards in the new country. 

 Of all the vines which Dufour saw, non& sufficed u to pay for 

 one-half of their attendance," save the " vines planted in the 

 gardens of Xew York and Philadelphia, and about a dozen plants 

 in the vineyard of Mr. Legaux." And from these few plants be- 

 longing to* Legaux, under Dufour' s care, began the most important 

 experiment in American grape culture. 



COMMUNITY EFFORT A CEXTURY AGO 



Dufour was now ready to locate land and to establish the pro- 

 posed grape colony. He chose a location in the Great Bend of 

 the Kentucky River, about twenty-five miles from Lexington by 

 the present pikes, and thirteen miles from the present village of 

 Xicholasville. The " Kentucky Vineyard Society " appears to 

 have been established under his inspiration. The association was 

 organized with $10,000 capital. There were 200 shares at $50 

 each, and forty shares were given Dufour as " salary to conduct 

 the business, until it should become productive." The full num- 

 ber of shares was not taken, and the concern set out in the spring 

 of 1799 with five acres planted to thirty-five varieties, many or 

 most of which were secured from Legaux. 



The enterprise being now fully on its feet, the remaining mem- 

 bers of the Dufour family were ready to join. On Xew Year's 

 Day, 1801, the adventurers came together in Switzerland, and 

 prepared to take leave of home and country. Seventeen souls set 

 sail in early spring upon a voyage which lasted 100 days. They 

 landed in Xorfolk during May. In this company were the seven 

 remaining Dufours, Jean Daniel Mererod (who, either in Europe 



