ADLUM'S VINEYARD 57 



would be violence to suppose that all of them were 

 accidental hybrids with European types which were 

 unknown to the region ; and there is no more reason 

 to suppose that the Catawba, alone, was a hybrid than 

 to suppose that all the rest of them had a similar im- 

 pure origin. Moreover, we know that the wild Vitis 

 L'llrusca is capable of producing very many curious 

 and wide variations in its fruit. We must conclude, 

 therefore, with the great majority of botanists and 

 intelligent grape -growers, that the Catawba grape is a 

 pure native. A reigning wild form of this fox -grape 

 is shown in Fig. 11. 



An anonymous correspondent of the "New England 

 Farmer," in March, 1824, evidently a member of the 

 House of Representatives gives the following account 

 of Adlum's vineyard: "A friend and myself, before the 

 meeting of the House this morning, rode to the Vineyard 

 of Mr. Adlum, at Georgetown, three or four miles from 

 this city, for the purpose of obtaining a bundle of slips 

 to be forwarded to the N. York Horticultural Society, 

 and by them disposed of as may be deemed proper. 

 Unfortunately my purpose was defeated to-day by the 

 accidental absence of the proprietor. We however had 

 the pleasure of surveying Mr. Adlum's grounds, and of 

 observing his mode of cultivating the vine. His vine- 

 yard is in a sequestered and lonely situation, surrounded 

 by hills and woods, on the banks of Rock Creek, a 

 small branch of the Potomack. It is planted on a steep 

 declivity, looking to the south, and covering several 

 acres. The soil is a light loam, stony and moist, the 

 growth about it being chiefly white oak. At the lower 

 verge, passes a small brook planted with willows, from 

 which a black vine -dresser was very busy in plucking 



