Southern Grape Breeders 23 



OTHER SOUTHERN GRAPE BREEDERS 



Soon after the close of the Civil War, Dr. L. C. Chisholm of 

 Spring Hill, Tennessee, became interested in grape breeding as 

 a recreation. No very complete account of his work is available, 

 but for the purpose of this dissertation this is not needed. He 

 produced three varieties of sufficient merit to be tested to some 

 extent, but as none of them showed great merit in New York, they 

 were never widely planted and were soon dropped from most nurs- 

 ery lists. However of these one, Lutie, was of such outstanding 

 merit in the South, that it has gradually forced its way to the front, 

 and information received by conversation with the Vitacultur- 

 ist of the United States Department of Agriculture shows it is 

 now being planted more widely than any other red grape in the 

 United States. Its disease resistance, productiveness, and table 

 qualities especially recommend it to the South. Its greatest 

 weakness lies in the fact that it neither keeps nor ships well, 

 and the crop does not ripen all at once. Naturally these are no 

 disadvantage for home use. 



Many inferior varieties have been sold for Lutie, hence its 

 reputation has suffered in certain localities. 



Observations made within ten miles of the site of its origin 

 showed it growing luxuraintly on a trellis owned by D. K. Tren- 

 airy, though it had never been either sprayed or pruned, pro- 

 ducing large crops regularly. 



In 1873 Mr. T. V. Munson became intensely interested in 

 grape culture. In 187G he purchased land near Dennison, Texas, 

 and began his life work of testing and breeding grapes. Mr. 

 Munson spent thousands of dollars and traveled all over the 

 United States studying wild grapes and collecting plants for his 

 breeding station. He became the foremost authority on both the 

 botany of the grape and grape breeding in America. He made 

 thousands of crosses and grew tens of thousands of seedlings. 

 Something more than a hundred of these have been offered 

 to the public. None proved of great value in the North and hence 

 they have not been widely planted or known. 



They are very rapidly, gaining popularity in Texas and 

 Oklahoma and recently have proven of great value in Florida 

 where they are being planted by thousands. Wherever tested 

 south of the Mason and Dixon line they are showing their value 

 and are doing their part in proving that grapes produced in the 

 South will yield profitable crops there. 



The Zimmerman Brothers of Oldsmar, Florida have not onty 

 tested many of the Munson varieties but have used them as 

 parent stock for growing seedlings. Today they are growing 

 grapes very profitably, but invariably those giving best results 

 are either their own or the Munson varieties. 



