PETER LEGAUX 19 



prising forty -three pages in the authors' "Rural 

 Economy," published at New Brunswick, New 

 Jersey, in 1806.* He drew heavily from the ex- 

 periences and writings of Antill. He mentions the 

 four enemies of grape -growing which are described 

 by Antill, and adds remarks upon the mildew and 

 hail, and rejoices that such terrible European pests 

 as the snail, gribouri, and beche "which no art 

 has yet been found adequate to conquer" have not 

 yet reached America. In his time, the former seat 

 of Antill was occupied by Miles Smith, who had 

 "a large and handsome vineyard." But the chief 

 interest which Johnson's account has to us is the 

 eulogium which he pronounces upon Peter Legaux, 

 a vine -grower at Spring Mills, thirteen miles north- 

 west of Philadelphia. Legaux appears to have 

 been the most intelligent and public -spirited grape- 

 grower which the country had known ; and he was 

 the person who introduced though unknowingly the 

 grape which ushered in the distinctive American 

 viticulture. We shall hear more of Legaux in the 

 following pages, and we shall pause now only to 

 read Johnson's praise of him. Our author speaks 

 of his application to "the philanthropic M. Legaux" 

 for information on the grape, and then proceeds : 

 "The liberality with which M. Legaux gave answers 

 to his correspondent, through the medium of the 

 public papers, for the benefit of the public ; the 

 botanico meterological observations made for fifteen 

 years successively, drawn out on purpose to answer 

 the questions proposed, and also published for gen- 



Mohnson's pictures of grape training are reproduced in "Pruning- Book," pp. 

 391, 302. 



