FKUIT IN VIRGINIA AND" MARYLAND. 21 



thereof, it has been solely known in the localities referred to, from 

 the remotest period of its probable introduction." It is probable 

 that Mr. Lowell's view is correct, and that the White Doyenne was 

 introduced by the Huguenots, who in 1689 settled New Rochelle. 



The culture of the vine with the view of wine-making was early 

 undertaken in Virginia, French vine-dressers having been brought 

 over in 1621, who wrote to the English Company, that the soil and 

 climate of Virginia surpassed that of Languedoc, and afterwards 

 made a successful experiment in the production of wine, a speci- 

 men of which was sent to England. 1 



The common apple was grafted on wild stocks in Virginia in 

 1647. The same year, twenty butts of cider were made in that 

 Colony by Richard Bennet. Wine was also made in Virginia, by a 

 Capt. Brocas, in 1647, and in 1651 premiums were offered for its 

 production. As early as 1722 there were vineyards which pro- 

 duced seven hundred and fifty gallons a year. Many other attempts 

 were made, soon after the settlement of the country, to produce 

 wine, one of which, by English settlers at Uvedalo (now in Dela- 

 ware), seems -to have met with some success. An attempt to 

 establish a vineyard near Philadelphia was made by William Penn 

 in 1683, and another by Andrew Dore in 1685 ; but neither suc- 

 ceeded. The peach, nectarine, and apricot are mentioned as grow- 

 ing abundantly in Virginia in 1720. Some of the peaches are rep- 

 resented to have been twelve or thirteen inches in circumference. 

 They were raised so easily as to be planted for feeding hogs, and 

 also for making brandy. Quinces also grew there in perfection at 

 the same time. The peach and pear were introduced by George 

 Bobbins at "Peach Blossom Plantation," Easton, Talbot County, 

 Md., about 1735, the seeds having been received from Peter Col- 

 linson of London. A codling apple tree, sent by Charles, Lord 

 Baltimore, to his son Benedict Calvert, about the middle of the 

 eighteenth century, stood for a hundred years in full vigor at 

 Mount Airy, Prince George's County, Md. 2 



The author of the Introductory Essay and Notes to Wood's 

 New-England's Prospect (third edition, 1764) says, "The late 

 Col. Tasker of Maryland in one year made more than twenty hogs- 

 heads of wine from the Burgundy grape, which by good judges 

 were thought equal to the product of France." 



1 Holmes's American Annals, first edition, 1805, Vol. I. p. 224. 



2 Report of U. S. Commissioner of Patents, 1853, pp. 260-297. 



