Successful Plantations 11 



Massachusetts, and Catawba was introduced into Maryland, 

 doubtless having been carried there from the headwaters of the 

 Little Catawba river, in North Carolina. ( 15 ) ( 16 ) 



Grape culture was now a success in the North and East, but 

 no record has been found of attempts made to grow grapes 

 commercially in most of the South for years. Howe ver vineyards of 

 Bourquiniana varieties were being profitably grown near Savan- 

 nah, Georgia, as early as eighteen hundred and investigations 

 have shown many small vineyards of Concord and Catawba 

 from Columbia, South Carolina, northward to Hendersonville, 

 North Carolina, that have been bearing for over twenty-five 

 years, and evidence was obtained that at least one of these vine- 

 yards had been bearing since before the Civil War. ( 15 ) ( 17 ) ( 18 ) 



Successful Plantations. Doubtless the most successful attempt 

 to grow grapes commercially in the South is in what is known as 

 the thermal belt at Tryon, North Carolina. ( 19 ) ( 20 ) Mr. 

 Lindsey, the pioneer grape grower of this district and today 

 head of the Tryon Grape Growers' and Shippers' Association, 

 after courteously showing a number of the vineyards, stated 

 that the vines are uniformly heatlhy and productive. ( 15 ) 

 Niagara and Deleware are principally grown, not because other 

 varieties do not succeed, but because these were the first varieties 

 planted and the reputation of the district was made on them. 

 They are not only shipped locally in small quantities, but in car 

 lots. They are grown on the steep mountain slopes, the higher 

 the vineyard the better the quality of the fruit obtained. Good 

 crops are secured on the low lands but the quality is not so good. 



John Meir came from Spain, and in eighteen hundred ninety 

 purchased land near Hendersonville, Tennessee, and began plant- 

 ing grapes. He states that he has planted more than sixty varie- 

 ties during the time he has grown grapes there. He has the 

 largest vineyard in Tennessee twenty-seven acres, and reports 

 good success from a financial standpoint. He secures as large 

 an average yield as do the New York or Michigan growers, and 

 gets a much higher price for his fruit. 



In the vicinity of Graysville, Tennessee, A. K. Baker and Wil- 

 liam Lenker for a number of years grew grapes commercially, 

 growing principally Brighton. Their venture was highly success- 

 ful, as a visit to their vineyard in nineteen hundred sixteen 

 showed. 



In nineteen hundred fourteen Jethro Kloss set several thousand 

 grape vines near Fountain Head, Tennessee. This planting was 

 increased from time to time until it covered several acres. Mr. 

 Kloss sold his farm and the vineyard was neglected for some time. 

 Mr. B. N. Mulford now owns this vineyard and has partly re- 

 suscitated it. It is beginning to bear profitable crops. 



In nineteen hundred sixteen W. S. Boynton planted an acre 



