JOHN ADLUM 53 



of the different species of the native Vine, to be found 

 in the United States, to ascertain their growth, soil 

 and produce, and to exhibit to the Nation, a new 

 source of wealth, which had been too long neglected. 

 My application was, however, rejected, and I have been 

 obliged to prosecute the undertaking myself, without 

 assistance and without patronage, and this I have 

 done to the full extent of my very limited means. A 

 desire to be useful to my countrymen, has animated 

 all my efforts and given a stimulus to all my exer- 

 tions. * : As I am advancing in years, and 

 know not when I may be called hence, I am solicitious 

 that the information I have acquired shall not die 

 with me." Poor Adlum! It is a pathetic story of a 

 man struggling on in advance of his time, supported 

 only by the confidence that his labors would some 

 day come to a full fruition. Let us twine a wreath 

 of the fragile Adlumia, and renew his memory when 

 every returning vintage grows purple in the autumn 

 sun! 



Adlum's third claim to our remembrance, and the 

 one of particular importance in the present inquiry, 

 is the introduction of the Catawba grape, which marks 

 the second epoch in American grape -growing. It 

 seems that a Mrs. Scholl, who kept a public house 

 at Clarksburg, Montgomery county, Maryland, had 

 a grape vine of much renown which Adlum pruned 

 in February, 1819, "for the sake of the cuttings." 

 "A German Priest, who saw Mrs. Scholl's Vine in 

 full bearing and when ripe, pronounced them the true 

 Tokay, and said he saw the same kind growing in 

 Tokay, in Hungary." From this circumstance, Adlum 

 called the grape the Tokay, and apparently made no 



