42 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS 



of mind, one born outside European environments 

 and the traditions of the wine -press, to discern the 

 fact that America was destined to give to the world a 

 new type of grape. 



The Branch of Promise 



We have seen that both in Kentucky and Indiana 

 one or two varieties of grapes had escaped the sickness, 

 and had given fairly good returns. The varieties 

 which are mentioned as successful are the Burgundy, 

 Madeira and Cape. We have no knowledge of what 

 these Burgundy and Madeira grapes were, but they 

 were probably not of European origin. It is prob- 

 able that they were offshoots of some native grape 

 which had somewhere been impressed into cultivation. 

 They seem to have attracted little attention, how- 

 ever, and were soon lost, so that their history need 

 not be pursued farther. 



But the Cape grape persisted, and eventually 

 became the leading grape at Vevay. Airne Mere rod 

 remembers it, and still wonders what its origin may 

 have been. It has turned out that this grape was the 

 beginning of successful American grape culture, and 

 we must inquire into its history. Dufour obtained the 

 variety from Legaux, at Philadelphia. Legaux "certi- 

 fied having received them from the Cape of Good 

 Hope," as Dufour says, and Dufour and his compan- 

 ions called it the Cape grape. In M'Mahon's account, 

 in 1806, of some of the vines "under trial at the 

 Spring Hill Vineyard," however, there is no variety 

 which answers to this. It is evident that Legaux's 

 company placed little estimation upon this grape; and 



