432 THE SURVIVAL OF THE UNLIKE. [XXVII, 



and is one reason for the great improvement of our 

 native grapes. 



Attempts to cultivate the European grape in the 

 open air in all the northern and central states have 

 always resulted in failure, although the attempts have 

 been numerous. Only within the last twenty -five 

 years have we discovered that this failure is largely 

 due to the phylloxera and the powdery mildew, — 

 enemies which are native to America, but which do 

 little harm to native grapes. The failure of the for- 

 eign grapes drew attention to the wild ones, and the 

 Cape or Alexander grape, which gained prominence 

 about a century ago, was the first of our natives 

 which attracted the attention of vignerons. Not the 

 excellence of the Alexander, but the fact that it 

 would thrive while foreign kinds would not, com- 

 mended it. It proved a failure for wine, however, 

 and it was not until John Adlum picked up a grape 

 which came from the Catawba river early in this 

 century that American grape culture may be said to 

 have begun. This was the Catawba grape. Sub- 

 sequently there appeared Isabella and Diana, and our 

 grape culture had received a distinct impetus. In 

 1853 the Concord appeared, and this incident, more 

 than any other single fact, has greatly extended the 

 cultivation of the grape in this country. So far, our 

 grapes were pure offspring of the fox grape, or Vitis 

 Lahrusca, of the eastern states ; or, in the Catawba, 

 an offspring of the southern type of that species. 



At this time definite attempts were being made to 

 introduce foreign qualities into our hardy but harsh 

 natives. John Fisk Allen, of Massachusetts, showed 

 the first hybrid before the Massachusetts Horticultural 



